Memories
by Authoress on Fire
Summary: Sequel to my other story, Remembered. When Natalie Oak's brother Gary goes missing while helping Professor Rowan's research in Sinnoh, another lab aide invites her and her friends to help him investigate the mystery of what really happened to Gary. OC-heavy story. Rated for violence, language, and sexual references. Set during D/P/Pt.
1. Bad News

_**Disclaimer: Authoress on Fire does not own any fraction of the Pokemon franchise or any songs mentioned in this story, and only owns her OCs.**_

* * *

_{Are you three ready?}_

_[Yessir. I think Nat should start, since it started with her brother. Right, Dan?]_

_[Uh...yeah.]_

_{Natalie, you agree?}_

_[Sure, if Drew and Dan say so.]_

_Natalie Oak._

_Seven Years Later, in Pallet Town._

The morning I found out my big brother Gary was dead, my neighbor/best friend, Daniel Anderson, ran into our kitchen in his sleeping clothes.

It was a pretty regular morning. My big sister, Daisy, was helping our grandpa's lab assistant, Tracey, wash the breakfast dishes in the kitchen before Tracey and I went to the lab. I was sitting at the table, still eating my cereal and watching TV from the portable set we kept on the table.

Without knocking, Dan suddenly ran into the kitchen from the back door, wearing an oversized red tank top and red basketball shorts. He threw his Pokegear on the table, in the middle of a call, and took the TV to change channels.

"Dan!" Daisy cried, nearly dropping a plate.

"What's wrong?" Tracey asked, looking confused.

I practically choked on my cereal. "Dan, what are you _doing?_" I'd been watching a really good battle on TV, and hated not knowing who'd win.

"Channel 20!" His twin brother, Drew, shouted from the Pokegear. The call was on speaker, apparently. "Sinnoh Now! It's Gary!" Drew was at their father's house in Fuschia City for the month, or else he would've been in there with Dan. "Nat, you ain't gonna _believe _this crap on TV!"

Dan punched the channel down button furiously, not speaking to any of us. Usually, he would only ever speak to his brother.

"Gary?" I hadn't heard from Gary in weeks. He was in Sinnoh, studying fossils to help Professor Rowan with his research.

Dan finally found the channel, sighing and standing up. He turned the TV so me, Daisy, and Tracey could all watch the program.

"...This just in, from the Sinnoh region," The news reported stated. "Last week, an avalanche occured on Mt. Coronet, burying much of Routes 216 and 217. Only one person has been confirmed to have been on the mountain at the time; 17 year old Gary Oak, grandson of Kanto's famous Professor Samuel Oak."

Daisy gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "No...Gary, no..."

"The young man has not yet been located, although a search team has been working tirelessly to find him."

"Oh my God." Tracey looked almost sick to his stomach. He was good friends with Gary.

I tuned out a lot of the rest, until the screen cut to an interview with a young man with greenish platinum blonde hair, and striking green eyes.

"I told him it was a terrible idea to go during the summer," He said, sounding regretful. "I told that _stupid_ kid the snow was gonna start melting, but does he listen to me? Hell no! I just hope his poor grandfather and sisters'll be okay. Especially the younger one, his little sister loves Gary to death. Lord knows that family's been through enough trauma..."

I recognized him. He was another guy assisting Professor Rowan with his research, named Aaron. Gary and Aaron had been working together on something for a few months, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was.

"Nat?" The interview was over. The next thing I heard was Drew's voice. "Are you all still there? Hello?"

"...Yeah." My voice was tiny and weak. I could hardly believe what I had just heard. "We're still...here..."

Dan looked at the three of us, frowning in sympathy. Dan was a really sweet kid, and he hated to see us so...shocked.

I'd just turned 14 years old, and my older brother was dead. I had just talked to him on the phone a few weeks before. Just a week ago, I'd gotten the birthday card he'd sent me...

"I'm so sorry, I just...thought you ought to see it. " Drew's voice pinged with regret and sadness.

Daisy calmly walked over to the small TV on the table, and turned it off.

"It's...alright, Drew. Dan, I think you should go on home...and probably get dressed."

Dan gathered up his Pokegear, and ended the call. He mouthed one word at me before rushing out, the closest thing he had yet come to speaking to me:

"Sorry."

_Mark._

_3 Hours Later._

That morning, I woke up to a phone call and a one-night stand still sleeping in my bed.

I groaned, sitting up. My Pokenav was on the bedside table, dinging away. I answered the call, keeping my voice low so as not to wake up the other guy.

"Wha?" I answered groggily. I stole a glance at my alarm clock; it was ten-thirty in the morning. Pretty early for me.

On the other end, I heard sniffling. "Mark..." It was Daisy, and she...she was crying.

"Dais? Whassa matter?" I asked, yawning. "Are you okay?"

Daisy sniffled again. "M-Mark..." She said again. "It-it's my little brother. Did you s-see the n-news?"

"Sweetie, this call is what woke me up," I told her. "What's with Gary?"

"Th-that damned mountain in Sinnoh...Mt. Coronet. There was an avalanche, and...Gary was supposed to have been up there, and n-nobody's seen or heard him since, an-and Grandpa got the c-call this morning after the n-news...oh, God, Mark..."

My heart lurched. Daisy had already lost Lee to that mountain...and her parents died, right after their sister was born...dammit, that sweet girl did _not _deserve all the death surrounding her.

"...How're the others taking it?" I murmured. "Natalie and the Professor?"

"Nattie w-went to the lab r-right after we f-found out...Gr-Grandpa, too...but Nattie's been with...Gary's pokemon..." I heard a loud sob come out.

"Do you want me to come out there to Pallet Town?" I asked softly. "I could-"

"I can't let you sink to asking Jane for money again. We...we'll be fine..."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Anything else I could do?"

"N-no, I just...I needed to tell s-somebody...thank you, Mark..."

"Anytime, Dais. You know I'm always right here." I eased myself off the ratty old futon we'd slept on, and flinched at the groaning springs. "I'll call you later to check up, okay?"

"Alright, Mark...bye."

I hung up the call, and put my Pokenav over on my dresser. I slipped into the bathroom to look at myself.

_Jesus, last night was rough..._There were hickies all over my neck, and one at my collarbone that made the line between "lovebite" and "violent bruise" rather thin.

Ever since Lee had died and I finally moved out of my parents' house, I'd fallen into a really bad pattern of partying and sleeping around. The only one of my family aware of it was my irritating baby sister, Maggie.

_Maybe one of the girls will let me borrow some concealer... _Maggie was more likely to have what I needed; we were both tanned from surfing at the beach, but our older sister, Jane, was just about as pale as our mom. I couldn't let our dad see me with hickies when I came in for work.

The thought of Maggie made me panic. _Oh shit, is she coming over today?! _During the summer, Maggie liked to come over and battle me before I went to work at our father's resturant. She liked to stay sharp, for the pokemon contests she loved so much.

I sent her a quick text, asking her to bring concealer because I was a combination of too lazy and too poor to buy any, and then hopped in the shower.

My next priority was gonna be getting that other guy the hell out of my house, because I was not about let Maggie come in to a naked twenty-something year old in her brother's bed. I have very little class, but dammit, it's there.

* * *

**AOF: This has actually been finished for days now, but I chose today specifically to put it up so I can give my friend, Lazy Quark, a hella fine birthday present.**

**AOF: I already told you, but I'm glad to say it again! Happy birthday, bro! :D**


	2. The Letter

_Drew._

_A Month Later._

After another week had passed(that's two weeks since the initial avalanche), Gary still hadn't been found. He was officially pronounced dead.

Nat and her family, they all seemed just as dead. I had never experienced a family member dying, but the Oak were just as close as family to me and Dan, and it hurt us to see them so upset and _not _be able to do anything to help.

A month after Gary was pronounced dead, since there was no body, a memorial was held. Everybody wore black, a lot of people cried, the whole nine yards.

Nat didn't go. Neither did me, or my brother. We stayed up in the treehouse in our backyard, because Nat couldn't bring herself to go.

To try and lighten the mood, I brought up a deck of cards and taught Nat some new card games I'd learned from my sister in Fuschia. She didn't smile or laugh much, but at least she didn't seem so gloomy.

That was ten in the morning. People left the church the memorial was at around noon. Both the Professor and Daisy probably knew where Nat was(and no doubt Tracey did), but I had a feeling they wouldn't reprimand her for not going.

"Nattie! Nattie, you up there?"

I flinched at the sound of a girl's voice. Nat set her cards down, looking down into the hole leading into the ground.

"Katie?" Her eyes lit up, just a little. "Car! Come on up here!"

I audibly groaned, and Dan glanced at me, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

A girl climbed up the rope ladder, followed by a boy with an overbite. They both wore glasses(like me), the girl's rimmed with lavender plastic and the boy's were metal frames with a gold tint. They both had grey eyes, but the girl's hair was brown and frizzy and the boy had short, straight black hair and freckles.

My fears were true; I'd recognized the girl as Nat's older cousin Katie, but I didn't recognize the boy.

"_Who're they?_" Dan mouthed. He hadn't met Katie the last time she visited, but neither of us had met the other kid.

Nat scooted over to give them room to sit. They were well-dressed for the occasion; Katie wore a black skort and dark gray blouse, and the boy wore a gray polo with black dress pants and a brown belt.

"Hey, Drew," Katie greeted me, flashing me a smile. "I bet you remember me. Is that your little brother?"

"Twin brother," I corrected her, and nodded reluctantly. "But, yeah. Name's Dan. He doesn't talk much."

Katie laughed. "Neither does this one," She joked, jerking her head at the boy.

He flushed pink. "H-Hey!"

I glanced at Dan; he stared blankly at the two of them. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Nat was grinning, happy to see Katie. "Guys, these're my cousins," She introduced us. "Drew, you know Katie, but Carlisle hasn't been here much before. He's her little brother, he's about our age." Katie was over a year older than us.

It felt like it had been such a long time since Nat had smiled. It really warmed my little stone heart to see her grin.

Reaching over, Katie took Dan's hand in hers, making his blush. She shook his hand.

"It's great to finally meet you, Dan!" She greeted him cheerily. "Yeah, this one is my little brother." She released Dan's hand, pointing at Carlisle.

"I have a name, you stupid..." Carlisle grumbled the rest incoherently.

I glared at the girl. "Don't touch him."

"Huh?"

"Dan, I mean. Don't. Touch. Him. You damn nutbag..."

Katie raised her eyebrows. "Uh huh..." She rolled her eyes. "You have the weirdest taste in friends, Nattie..."

Ever since I'd met her, Katie irritated me. She was so...ugh. Perky. I hate perky people, they're unecessarily happy. I mean, how can you just be _naturally _peppy, about _everything? _It must be ridiculous, and exhausting.

Up in the treehouse, Nattie and her cousins spent a long time catching up. They hadn't seen each other since Katie's 15th birthday, because they lived in some far away region.

I noticed Dan glance at Carlisle every few minutes, though. At least, I think it was Carlisle; Dan lets his bangs hang in his eyes, so it's hard to tell where he's looking sometimes.

Then, a voice called out, "Excuse me! Is Natalie Oak up there?"

Another damn visitor for Nat. I groaned. We couldn't possibly fit a sixth person.

Nat started to get up, but I motioned for her to sit. "I'll handle it."

I eased myself down the ladder. There was a guy standing at the base of the tree, a sealed envelope in his hand. He had green hair and eyes, with an obvious cowlick.

"What d'you want?" I demanded of him. "This is my treehouse. That for her?"

The guy raised his eyebrows at me. "Is Natalie up there?" He asked.

"She is. Give that to me."

"I have to put it in her hands."

I groaned. "I'm not gonna read it, you idiot, just gimme the damn letter."

"I can't. Was told to only give Natalie the envelope."

What was this guy's problem? "Look, this is _my _back yard, along with _my _treehouse. I think I'm well qualified to deliver a goddamn letter to my best friend!"

I was starting to get irritated at this stupid bum. Who the hell was so important that I couldn't bring his letter to Nat?!

Lord Tightass was getting just as irritated. "Look, I can't just give you this letter, because it's supposed to be crazy important-why do you think it couldn't just be mailed?! Just called her down here, and-!"

That was the last [expletive deleted] straw. I was so done. I snatched the letter from his hand, and hurried up the rope ladder. I'm a bit of a bigger guy, I know, but I'm fast as hell. Especially crawling up that ladder.

I spat the letter out onto the dusty wood floor of the treehouse and pulled myself back in, panting a little. Dan raised an eyebrow at me.

"What was all that about?" Carlisle asked skeptically.

Carefully, Nat picked up the envelope. It had a wet ring on a corner where my teeth had bitten down. "Who was the guy?"

"Eugh...I dunno," I admitted. "Kept on yapping about how important this damn letter is...better read it, I literally stole it out his hands."

She eyed it like an unlit stick of dynamite. "Really? Why would anyone-?"

"Open it, Nattie!" Katie ordered excitedly. "It might be something cool!"

Nobody sounded more sickeningly stupid than Katie saying that.

But, slowly, she took the corner I'd bitten on and she began to rip it open. There was a printed letter inside, folded meticulously perfect. It was getting more suspicious by the second.

With shaky hands, Nat unfolded the letter, and read it out loud to the four of us...

* * *

**AOF: If Drew seems to have a bit of an attitude, that's because he 900% does.**


	3. Family Feud

_Drew._

_A Week Later._

The day we visited Nat's grandpa to recieve starter pokemon and our pokedexes, she was shaking like a leaf. She very rarely defied him like we planned.

Outside the lab door, Nat stopped walking. She had to force up her courage. It was a pitiful sight, because she really loved her grandfather. Nat hugged her Sandshrew, Lenny, to her chest.

We were going to ask for starter pokemon, although we each had our own. Nat had Lenny, given to her by Gary; I had my Vulpix, Pixel, that I had caught on my own before we moved to Pallet Town; and Dan had his pet Farfetch'd, a gift from Mom for our 10th birthday.

In a silent gesture, Dan put a hand on her shoulder and offered a small smile. On her other side, I added, "He's not gonna hate you, sheesh."

Nat chuckled. "I guess." She pushed the door open, and we entered.

The lab was a little messy. Prof. Oak wasn't especially tidy to begin with, but with losing Gary and all, he'd taken it pretty hard. Even Tracey couldn't put his heart into cleaning. _Tracey Sketchit, _the Oaks' glorified live-in maid.

_[Excuse me, Drew! That is so rude! Tracey's like another big brother to me!]_

Well, anyway, you get it.

The Professor was sitting at his desk, typing something on a computer. He'd spent more time at the lab, lately, than at home.

Nat didn't call for his attention, so I did. As I passed by a stack of papers, I couldn't help grabbing them and fixing the haphazard stack.

"Professor Oak, sir?" I addressed him. "Professor!"

He snapped out of it, and looked at the three of us. "Oh! Nattie, and the twins," He muttered to himself. "Are those backpacks you're wearing?"

Nat cleared her throat, and finally said, "Grampa, I talked with Drew and-well, with Drew, anyway, and we decided it's time to leave home."

The Professor had been waiting years to hear her say that; we could have left at ten years old, just like any kids, but stayed to help Tracey take care of the pokemon ranch behind the lab. It was a job we loved.

Prof. Oak's eyes lit up. "Oh, really? You three are planning to travel?"

I nodded, readjusting my glasses. "Yessir; I've even been saving money." That money was actually for a new baseball jersey, but nobody needed to know that.

For the first time in a while, Prof. Oak smiled. It wasn't a big or a happy smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Then, you're going to need pokedexes and starter pokemon! Follow me." He lead us through the lab, to the machine holding the starter pokemon. Then, he went to retrieve the pokedexes he had ordered when we turned ten.

I glanced at Dan. His face was hidden by his shaggy hair. "What pokemon are you gonna choose?"

Dan shook his head furiously, fanning out his bangs. He flat-out refused to tell me. Some days he'd talk to me, but other days...he was like a stranger to me.

I rolled my eyes, sighing. "Whatever."

The Professor returned fairly quickly, with the three pokedexes; forest green for Nat, crimson red for Dan, and cobalt blue for me.

"Have the three of you decided which pokemon you want?" He asked.

Before Nat responded, I answered, "Yessir. I choose Squirtle to be my starter."

Professor Oak nodded. He turned to the machine behind him, opening it and handing me one red pokeball with a water symbol on it. "Here you go, Drew. This is Squirtle."

"Thank you." I nodded, slipping a small little grin. "I'll make sure to take good care of him."

Dan made no attempt to choose a pokemon. Nat looked at Lenny, still in his arms.

"Which do you want to be our partner, Len?" She asked him. "Bulbasaur, or Charmander?"

Lenny huffed in indignation, the spoiled little brat. He hated making decisions. He pointed at the pokeball on the far left. "Saaanshrew sand."

Nat noted her Sandshrew's decision. "Alright. Good choice!" She looked up at her grandfather. "Lenny says Bulbasaur, Grampa!"

The Professor chuckled at Nat's decision. "Alright, then." He gave her the pokeball holding Bulbasaur, with a green leaf symbol. "That leaves...Charmander, for Dan. Are you okay with that?"

Swishing his bangs out of his eyes, Dan nodded with a chipper smile. The Professor gave Dan the last pokeball, with a fire emblem above the button. Dan pressed the button to minimize it, and tucked it away in his pocket.

Finally, Prof. Oak handed out what I looked forward to the most: our pokedexes, and exactly five pokeballs. I held mine like a treasure.

"What are the three of you planning to do?" Prof. Oak asked us. "I imagine you'll be challenging gyms, Nattie-I know the Pewter City gym leader, Brock, he used to travel with As-"

"We're not travelling through Kanto, Grampa." Nat's voice was solid and firm, like stone. Nothing like the terrified girl I'd seen outside the lab. She was regaining her famous nerve.

Prof. Oak raised an eyebrow to her. "Oh? Then where do you plan to go?"

Nat hesitated one second, for a gulp. "S-Sinnoh." Prof. Oak looked positively horrified at his younger granddaughter's news. "A friend of Gary's, he invited me to Sinnoh, t-to fi-"

"No." The word was just as firm. This wasn't a professor speaking; it was a grandfather. "Natalie-"

"-to find Gary. He's not dead, Grampa, I won't accept it!" All 4'07 feet of her looked fearsome. Nat wouldn't be shaken.

"There's no way I can let you go to Sinnoh." Prof. Oak's looked sad. "Sinnoh...that place has taken so much away from our family, Natalie-"

"_I don't care._" Nat grit her teeth. "I'm fourteen years old, Grampa, I'm not your little girl anymore! I'm not that snot-nosed brat who used to tag along with Tracey on errands! You gave me my starter and a pokedex, so I can go wherever the hell I please, so I _will!"_

_"Don't you take that tone with me!" _I hadn't heard Prof. Oak raise his voice in months. A cold chill ran up my spine.

It was quickly turning into a full-blown fight. I glanced at Dan; he watched them through his bangs, hardly breathing. He remembered fully well what huge family fights can do, and it scared the shit out of him, because we both love the Oaks to death and hate when they fight.

"We're leaving today! I have the boat tickets! I have the tickets, and there isn't one damn thing you can do about it, Grampa!"

Dan had his lips pursed tightly together, and despite his tanned skin, was very, very pale. For a second, he looked six years old again, instead of fourteen.

I had to stop it. I grabbed Nat's arm and Dan's arm, and yanked them both so hard that she nearly dropped Lenny.

"We have to leave!" I shouted above them, stopping the argument. "I-I'm sorry, Professor, me and Dan'll keep a good eye on her!"

I hauled the two of them out of the lab, Dan breathing a fragile sigh of relief. He mouthed to me what could have been mistaken as a "thank you".

The Professor didn't try and stop us. By then, it was 10 in the morning, and we had only a few precious minutes to haul ass to the Pallet Town Harbor to catch the boat Nat had tickets for.

So, haul ass we did. And, by a sliver of time, we made it.

_Natalie._

_Hours Later, on the Boat._

I sat on the bed in my cabin on the boat, sniffling. I had spent a good amount of time crying.

Grampa and I had never had a fight so bad before. I hadn't cried much after finding about Gary-I was in shock, I guess-but the fight just opened the floodgate. Lenny did his best to comfort me, wiping tears off of my cheeks, and I appreciated it.

It felt like Lenny was the _only _thing I loved at the moment. I hated everything; I hated Grampa for wanting to stop me, Gary for getting caught in the avalanche, Aaron Wilkerson for putting the idea in my head that Gary was alive...

I even briefly hated the twins. Drew, for dragging me out of there before I was done blowing up; Dan, for being so quiet and doing nothing...

Finally, finally, it felt like I was starting to calm down. Lenny, bless his heart, he let me hold and cuddle him until I could manage to settle down...he was disagreeable to everybody else, but Lenny loved me. The one thing I couldn't bring myself to hate.

I looked through my backpack, later, and dug out the letter from Aaron that had started it all.

_Dear Natalie Oak,_

_I know you may not remember me, but my name is Aaron Wilkerson. I was helping Gary with gathering information on Sinnoh's three lakes for Professor Rowan. You and I spoke a few times, when Gary would video call you._

_I don't believe Gary died in that avalanche; to be frank, I don't believe it even touched him. What I do believe is that Gary was being threatened by an organization, to the point that he believed itbest to fake his death. Just like the smug bastard, too, to do it so flashily._

_What makes me believe this is that a long dead criminal organization, Team Galactic, looks like it's rising from the ashes. Prof. Rowan has been pestered by them as well, but much more secretively. With Gary, they were so aggressive that I actually saw him being threatened by them at the door of the Valor Lakefront cabin we'd shared. Seeing them try to recruit researchers reminds me of when they first rose up, attempting to recruit kids as young as you are to their ranks._

_I beg you to come to Sinnoh. Enclosed with this letter are three tickets for a boat leaving Pallet Town in one week; I bought them online. One for you, two for the two friends of yours Gary told me about. They are fully welcome to come with you, I don't mind._

_Meet me in Twinleaf Town at the house of a girl named Amberlynn Daniels on July 26th, should you accept this invitation. Amber and some friends are all planning to meet together to discuss this oncoming threat._

_If you decide not to accept, I fully understand. I'll still look for Gary on my own. The only answer I'll need will be you at Amber's house that day._

_Sincerely Yours,_

_Aaron Wilkerson_

As I finished reading, I heard a knock at the door. "Nat? You alright?"

I sniffled a pitiful sniffle, and wiped my nose with a tissue from the night stand. "Y-yeah...come in."

Drew slowly opened the door and let himself in. He looked a little green; he'd told me before that he gets seasick really bad. He groaned.

"I could hear you crying through the wall." The twins' cabin was next to mine. "Are you..urp...okay?"

He sat at the foot of my bed. Seeing Drew, the big, powerful, nerdy athelete green and seasick made me snicker.

"I oughta ask you that," I retorted, drying the last tears. "Don't you have medicine or anything?"

"Left it with Dad in Fucshia City...ergh, God, that was a bad decision." Drew swept his short bangs away from his forehead. "But, really, are you alright? I know your family went through a huge shock finding out about Gary, but that fight with your grandpa-"

"I'm fine. I just needed to get that out of my system," I reassured him. "Really, don't worry about me...I'm a big girl now, just like I told Grampa, I can take care of myself."

Drew chuckled. "That's just what a big baby would say," He teased.

"Hey!"

Drew had another quip, but instead, he choked his breakfast back down with his hand over his mouth. "I'm going to go throw up in our bathroom now, instead of on your carpet. Text Dan if you start feeling lonely, or whatever."

I nodded. "'Kay. Hope you feel better soon!"

"Trust me, the moment I'm on dry land, I will feel better."


	4. Rebirth

_Leon Higgins._

_Somewhere in the Sinnoh Region..._

Somewhere around the time Natalie and them left for Sinnoh, I believe that's around when I woke up.

_God on High,_

_Hear my prayer..._

I wasn't sure where I was, how I got there, or even who I was. I had only the fuzziest grasp on anything...it was like my mind was trying to move while trapped in a tub full of maple syrup.

But I knew I could hear voices. I could hear people speaking, just at the edge of my consciousness.

_In my need,_

_You have always been there._

"...stable...could use him..."

"...health problems...smoking..."

_He is young._

_He is afraid..._

_Who the hell are they talking about? _I wondered. _Me? Use me for what?!_

There were needles and tubes and shit in my arms. I wanted to say I was in a hospital bed, but it was much too hard and cold for any of that. My head was spinning, trying to make sense of any of this.

_Let him rest,_

_Heaven blessed._

_What...who **am **I?_ I couldn't remember anything, except one name. _M...Mark...? No, I don't think that's my name...who the hell is Mark...?_

A soft groan of frustration escaped my lips. I found there was an oxygen mask over my face, presumably to make sure I was breathing.

_Bring him home,_

_Bring him home..._

I wanted to open my eyes, look at my surroundings, but I hadn't gathered the strength yet...whatever had happened to me, it must have been awful.

"Oh...oh my God. Sir! Subject 5366, he...he's awake!"

_Is that me...? _I couldn't remember anything, but I knew damn well that my name wasn't "Subject 5366".

I groaned again, a little louder, and tried opening my eyes.

I was in what felt like a horizontal test tube; which was fitting, as I was in some sort of science lab. Either it wasn't well-lit or my eyes were weak from lack of use, but I could faintly make out some shapes that looked like scientists. They wore the white lab coats with hair tied back and everything.

One older man stood out from the others, a hunched-over grayed old fart of a man. He chuckled as the others buzzed over me.

"Well, the famous man himself, back in the land of the living...heheheh..." His voice and his laugh irritated me to no end.

The fuzzy, dreamlike quality of it all intensified. My head thudded in dull pain, and I closed my eyes again with a pained sigh.

"Charon, sir...! The subject, he's fading again!" A scientist woman exclaimed, disappointed.

"Well, I suspect it's rather hard to pull yourself out of a coma," The older man's voice admonished her. "But this is more than the young man has been able to recover in years, isn't it?"

The voices faded off into the distance. I left my mind drift off again, exhausted, but I tried to force myself not to fall back into the coma Charon had mentioned...

_Mark._

_Slateport City, Hoenn._

"Whoa, whoa. Daisy, sweetie, calm down. Take a few breaths. She did what?"

I listened to Daisy sob into the phone reciever. It was around 7 at night, my time, and she was trying to tell me something about Natalie, and I prayed to God that nothing had happened to the kid...

"Sh-she...Grandpa s-said Nattie r-ran away...her and her fr-friends got their st-starter po-pokemon, and Po-Pokedexes, and got on a bo-boat to Sinnoh." Daisy finally managed to get it out between shivery breaths.

I held my palm to my mouth, suppressing a gasp. "Oh, wow. Did she did it to, uh..."

"I-I'm not done." Daisy sighed shakily. "Na-Nattie called me just a wh-while ago...the man G-Gary had been living with, Aaron Wilkerson, h-he...wrote to her. T-told her that he d-doesn't think Gary...died..." I heard another sob. "As-asked her to meet him, at a gi-girl named Amber's h-house in Twinleaf Town..."

When she said Aaron Wilkerson, I remembered someone we had met in Sinnoh; a scrawny, greenish-blonde sixteen year old kid gym leader, who hated his job. Why would he have even been around Gary?

I knew exactly why Daisy was so upset. That rash little sister of hers, the rushed haphazard decision she made, it sounded like...

"D-Dammit, this sounds just like something _Lee _would have done!" We both knew it, but she had the balls to say it.

After all that happened, I never told Daisy about my crush on Lee. Or that I had kissed him, and he kissed back. Her _fiancé, _for God's sake! It was a shitty thing that I did when I was a shitty little teenager, and I felt awful.

"Dais..." She was obviously worried about Nattie's safety. Jesus, that region felt like a frigging death trap. "Look, I know there isn't much I can do to-to help things feel better-"

"Mark. No. Marcus Lowe, tell me you won't come to Kanto. You can affor-!"

"Dammit, let me finish!" I snapped back, with more force than needed. "What I'm saying is about _Maggie! _She's been looking all summer for regions that host contests, so maybe Mags could...could look out for her." I gulped nervously. "Maggie, she can handle herself, and Nattie's never...has she ever really left home?"

"Not without Tracey, no." I heard a trace of a laugh in her voice. "But, Mark...would Maggie even want to?"

I laughed. "Oh, hell yeah, she will," I answered. "She's already been through Hoenn and Johto, and Sinnoh's just about as different as can be. I'll just tell Maggie where to go, and there'll probably be a boat out to there somewhere in the harbor."

"You really think so?" Daisy asked softly. "I don't...I just want her to be safe. She's with her friends and I love those boys to death, but-"

"Trust me, those two oughta make great friends," I reassured Daisy. "Either that, or kill each other. If there isn't a boat scheduled to leave, then I could always strike up a deal with Mr. Briney..."

We talked through a lot of the night, and I managed to soothe Daisy's frayed nerves. Ever since Lee'd died, I did as much as I could to make things easy for her. Which sort of made me resent that Sketchit kid, because he did the same thing.

We didn't hang up until midnight. I placed my Pokenav on the bedside table, and glanced at the mirror on the dresser. There were a lot of pictures sitting up there, both framed and just taped on.

Me at the Indigo Plateau Conference, in Kanto, when I was twelve. Me and Lee at the Silver Conference in Johto, before it began. All three of us at the Ever Grande Conference, with me holding up the trophy I won. A picture of me and Daisy hugging Lee after he won his first Grand Festival at fourteen years old...

I tried my best to look at the pictures as little as often, but I could never bring myself to take them down. My heart lurched at the thought of all those memories, and the boy who was never gonna come back...

That night, I slept on my own living room couch. It wasn't the first time, and it wasn't the last.


	5. VS Floatzel

_Amberlynn Daniels._

_One Week Later, in Twinleaf Town._

"Amber! Oh my gosh, where's my shoes?"

I looked over my shoulder at Michelle as I turned over the bacon in the pan. "Did you look in the back room, honey? Or Max's room? Get Astro to help look."

My ten year old baby sister, Michelle, was getting ready to leave home for the first time that afternoon. Flint, Volkner, Dee, and Aaron were all coming over in the morning, so I'd been up early cooking up a huge group breakfast.

A lot of things changed from the time I'd left home to be a coordinator. Seven years later, I was just two months shy of turning twenty. We had moved back to Twinleaf shortly after Dee's mom's wedding, because the whole reason for the move to Veilstone had been for Daddy's "work".

But, when I was fifteen...things went bad. Momma had been raising us on her own, with no intention of dating again, but before I turned fifteen, she caught an awful case of pneumonia. It didn't go away, and only got worse...and the winter I was sixteen, Momma died.

I stopped travelling during the time Momma was sick, and Dee did as well, but Tess didn't. Then, right before I turned sixteen, the Thompsons got the worst phone call of their lives.

Volkner called Mrs. Thompson directly, to say that Tess had run away after a nasty argument with him and wouldn't answer any Pokegear calls. She didn't answer to anybody, and nobody could find her.

Until I turned eighteen years old, Max and Michelle lived with our grandparents in Sunyshore City. I was allowed to live with Dee's family until then, in the hellish nightmare it had become...

"Amber! Seriously, where are this girl's shoes?!" Astro thundered into the kitchen, looking exasperated. "I'm in the middle of a video game, for cryin' out loud!"

Ever since we stopped travelling, Astro had been looking for a mental challenge. Video games seemed to do it for him, although I'm really not sure when he learned to even read.

I sighed. "Dammit, do I have to do everything?" I asked rhetorically. "Just help her look for them, Astro!"

Pouting, Astro left the kitchen. I could hear him grumbling in the living room. I rolled my eyes.

Dee was the first one through the door, then Flint, then Volkner. They all came in the kitchen and grabbed a bite to eat; besides bacon, I'd cooked up sausage, little pancakes, grits, and all kinds of good breakfast stuff.

By nine that morning, the only ones missing were Aaron, the kids he'd invited, and...

"_Maaaax! Baaaarrrrry!_" I stood at the foot of the staircase, calling their names. "Wake up! It's already-!"

"I'll go get them." Astro got up from the couch, and jogged up the stairs. I could hear him shouting as he knocked the door when he reached Max's room.

At nineteen, the worst part of my life was probably raising my little brother and sister. But mostly Max, that little shit...

_[Hey! Little shit is present!]_

Maxwell! Watch your mouth, Michelle is listening!

_[But, I-! ...Ugh, I give up.]_

_Natalie._

_A Half Hour Later._

"Nat! Wake up!"

We reached Twinleaf Town that morning, and Drew made sure we woke up on time. He rushed me and Dan to get dressed and "get off of this goddamn ship".

I pulled on my best clean t-shirt, plain green, and a pair of beige capris, and I scurried after the twins. All Dan'd done was pull on jeans and throw an open red button-up over the black tank top he wore to bed. Boy even still wore his Meowth slippers.

Looking around, I was that Twinleaf Town wasn't heavily populated. It was like Pallet Town; grassy, with houses scattered in what looked like a street pattern.

I set Lenny on the ground, and readjusted my backpack on my shoulders. "Well?" I picked him back up.

Drew's dark eyes glanced at me from the side. "'Well' what?" He answered.

"What d'we do now?" I asked him. "Just knock around, ask for that Amber girl?"

Dan shrugged. Drew blew a raspberry at me. "It was _your _idea we come here, Nat. I should be asking you!"

"It wasn't even my idea, it was that Aaron guy's!" I looked around, and saw a red roof and pokeball symbol. "Look, a pokemon center. This town's small enough, Nurse Joy oughta know."

The building _was _a pokemon center, and Nurse Joy did know Amber; she apparently volunteered on weekends to help take care of pokemon brought in. Nurse Joy gave us an address and directions, and we were on our way.

It took only a bit to navigate to the address she gave us. It was a house about the size of mine, painted yellow. There was a blue bike in the front yard, and a pair of brand-new sneakers in the basket. Drew picked them up, while I knocked on the door.

After a few knocks, a red-headed girl answered the door. She looked older than us by a few years, but tired; there were heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair was the sort of faded, rusty color that older women usually have.

"Excuse me, is this Amber Daniels' house?" I asked politely.

She nodded. "Yeah, this-I'm Amber. Are you the kids that Aaron invited?"

"Wilkerson?" I asked. She nodded. "Yeah, we are."

Amber stepped backwards out of the doorway, and to the side. "Come on in, you kids must be tired."

"And hungry..." Drew grumbled. As he passed by her, he held up the sneakers. "Hey, these belong to any of y'all?"

Amber raised her eyebrows. "There they are!" She laughed. "My little sister, Michelle, nearly tore up the house looking for these!" She accepted them. "She just stepped out, but thank you so much for finding them. Go on in the living room, kids, Aaron's all we're waiting on. There's food in the kitchen, if you're hungry-don't be shy."

There was a weird assortment of older teens sitting around the living room. A man with shaggy blonde hair sat slumped in an armchair; a scary-looking girl with a high ponytail in a camoflage jacket sat on an old, worn couch; and a man with a bright red afro was sitting Indian-style on the floor in front of the couch, laughing at some joke.

"I'm sorry, do you know where Aaron is?" I asked Amber quietly, as the twins rushed to the kitchen. "He can't be too far away, right?"

"He's probably just hung up at the lake or something," Amber answered cheerfully. "Lake Verity's only a walk away, so I'm sure he'll be here by ten."

"Would you mind if I leave my things here, and go look for him?" I asked impatiently. "I'm really sorry, I just-!"

"No no no, I understand. We all know why you're here, sweetie, of course you wanna talk to him. Lake Verity is an easy walk from here, no problem."

I nodded. "Um...thanks." Amber was incredibly...hospitable.

I set my backpack down in the kitchen, where the twins'd set their stuff, and I headed out the door with Lenny in tow.

It wasn't far until I left Twinleaf Town, and based on the sign posted at the outskirts, Lake Verity was very close by. Gary had mentioned it a few times on the phone, how he thought it looked beautiful in the morning mist...

_Gary... _I hurried up to a jog, and with Lenny in my arms, ran through the woods on the path.

The lake was easy to find; it was huge, covered by a thin mist. It really did look pretty.

I walked near the water's edge, looking around. I set Lenny on the ground and let him walk with me.

"A-Aaron?" My voice was probably too quiet to hear from far away. "It's me! Natalie!"

No answer. I looked out across the lake; the water rippled, almost violently.

"Saannd..." Lenny braced himself, readying his claws to fight. Lenny loved to battle.

I cleared my throat again. Maybe, if I raised my voice...

"It's Nata-!"

The water broke as a huge orange mass lept into the air. It looked like it was wearing an inflatable raft, and had a forked tail, glowing white. It spun the tail in a circle as it was in midair, preparing an attack!

"Lenny!" I cried out.

"_**Sanshrewsand!**_" Lenny cried out, jumping into the air to slash at the pokemon.

As Lenny hit the pokemon, a blue sphere shot out of the mist at them, and exploded. Lenny was thrown to the ground, along with the orange pokemon.

"_Lenny!_" I shrieked. "Are you okay?!"

A blue pokemon came trotting out of the mist, panting. It held its paws out, closing its eyes as it charged more energy.

"Michelle!" A male voice barked. "Take that girl and go! I'll take on Floatzel!"

A young girl with blue pigtails, Michelle, came out of the fog after the blue pokemon. She spotted me, then ran over and grabbed me by the wrist. She must have been Amber's little sister.

I panicked. "My-my Sandshrew!" She tried to drag me away. The blue pokemon sent another sphere at Floatzel, almost hitting Lenny. "_My Sandshrew! Let me go!_"

"Astro's gonna make sure he's alright!" Michelle squeaked helplessly. "Please, Miss, we gotta-we gotta go, before more Floatzel come out!"

It was no use; she wasn't going to let me get my Lenny, and Floatzel was starting to get back up, so it wouldn't be safe. I let myself be dragged off.

The last thing I saw before turning around was the blue pokemon, Astro, using a psychic attack to bring Lenny over to him. He tucked Lenny under his arm, and hauled ass after me and Michelle.


	6. Getting Off-Track

_{I think it's about time Dan had his say about all that was happening. Dan?}_

_[Huh? Me? Well...I guess. Do you mind, Nattie?]_

Not at all. Go on, Danny!

_Daniel Anderson._

_At the Daniels' House._

While Nattie was looking for Aaron at the lake, the older ones at the house went on with their little meeting. Drew stood against a wall, but I sat on the couch next to the scary-looking ponytail girl.

It wasn't hard to pick up names; the blonde with sort of matted hair was Volkner, the redheaded guy sitting on the floor was Flint, and that girl in the ponytail was named Dee.

Two boys our age walked in a bit later from upstairs, and pulled kitchen chairs in to sit, both of them blonde, but definitely not brothers. The boy with bushy, sand-colored hair was Amber's little brother, Max, I learned; the platinum-blonde who couldn't sit still was Dee's step brother, Barry.

Volkner clapped his hands. "Okay, Aaron's being a douchebag by being late, so forget him," He announced. "You guys know why we're here, right?"

He sort of glanced at us when he said that. I felt myself blush, and shrugged shyly. Drew shook his head.

"No, sir," He answered flatly. "Hey-shouldn't we wait for Nat, at least?"

"She'll find her way back. Michelle's at the lake, so they should all be back soon." Volkner blew off Drew's request. "Do you kids remember an organization going by 'Team Galactic'?"

I had never heard of it. Barry shook his head. Max paled and lowered his head, muttering, "No, not really." It was a blatant lie, but nobody brought it any attention.

Drew cleared his throat. "I read up on it some, after Aaron sent our friend that letter. They sound like some real bastards."

Volkner raised his matted eyebrows at Drew's choice in words. "What'd you read?" He quickly asked.

Drew shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable at being put on the spot. "Well..." He shrugged. "They were a criminal organization, loved to steal pokemon and commit other felonies. After a guy found out they were based in Veilstone City and destroyed their building to do some weird heroic shit, the leader was arrested and given 25-to-life in prison for stealing pokemon on such a mass scale, trying to kill the kid, and a couple other things." Drew recited it all without even a second breath. His memorization skills always astounded me.

"It was actually life without bail," Max corrected him under his breath. Drew narrowed his eyes threateningly.

Volkner nodded, a little surprised. "Well...uh, some of that was kind of wrong information, but that's impressive," He complemented Drew. "Well, Team Gala-"

"Wrong?" Drew scoffed. "How is it _wrong?_"

Dee glared angrily at him. "That boy didn't go in the building to do 'heroic shit'," She corrected him harshly. "I mean, he accidentally did do it anyway, bur Riley never really tried to-"

Drew was all flustered and redfaced. "How would you even know, you dumb girl?" He was getting so angry, not having known all the facts. "What, were you there with him?!" God, he hated being wrong. It was a little embarrassing, sometimes, how stubborn he could get.

"_What'd you call me, you fat little twerp?!_" Dee roared, standing up. Drew blanched, his face almost the color of paper. "Say that again, you snot-nosed, myopic, pigheaded son of a bi-!" She approached him, fists clenched tight.

"**_Deadra Thompson!_**" Amber came running from the kitchen, pushing Dee back. "He's just a kid! Relax!"

Her back was to me, but I knew the girl was still fumingly angry. She almost barked back, before Volkner ordered, "Dee. Sit."

Reluctantly, Dee sat down. She glared at me from the side, but not in anger. I still flinched a little, hoping I wasn't next.

"If that bitch is your brother, I almost feel sorry for you, twiggy." I shrugged in a simple response. A lot of people get bad impressions of Drew.

Drew didn't have any smart remarks after Dee did that. Amber pulled a chair into the living room, apparently in the kitchen.

Impatiently, Barry drilled his fingers against his thigh and bounced his knee. "Whatever happened with them, why'd you bring up Team Galactic?" He asked. "They comin' back or somethin'?"

From his spot by the couch, Flint nodded. "Me and Volkner think, anyway," He answered. "Been seeing some of those god awful uniforms back around Sunyshore City...and Aaron, he says he's been seeing them in Eterna, too. Why it would take this long for them to build back up, even without Mr. Cyrus' money and power, I dunno, but-"

Flint was cut off by the front door opening. Nattie hurried inside, limping on a bleeding leg and carrying a wiped-out Lenny, followed by a younger blunette girl with her faded jeans soaked from the knee down. A blue/black dog-like pokemon trotted in last, closing the door behind him.

I heard a teenage boy's voice sigh out, "Thank God, that's over..." But, that wasn't my priority.

Nattie leaned against a wall, taking the weight off her hurt leg. There was a gash in the back of her calf, exposed by her capris. Drew ran to her first, then I got up off the couch.

"Nat! Shit, what happened?!" Drew demanded.

She cluched her unconscious Sandshrew tightly to her chest, her eyes closed. "We got attacked at the lake," She murmured. "They, um...they chased us, almost all the way back to Twinleaf...I got hit by a Razor Wind attack."

I put my hands on Lenny and gently tugged, trying to take him from her. She didn't fight back. Back in Pallet Town, Tracey Sketchit had taught me all about first aid.

_Lenny's soaking wet...and shaking. I hope Amber's got clean towels, with all these people in her house._

"Mitchie!" Max barked. "Are you okay? Did you get-?"

"No," The blue-haired girl interrupted. "Astro and her, they...I didn't get hurt, big bro."

Amber had gotten up to go fetch a first aid kit, and when she came back, I nervously whispered to her about the towels and Lenny. She nodded.

"Go on ahead, I'll fix up your friend." She gently took Nattie's arm, and lead her away from Drew, who she'd been leaning on. "Sweetie, let me see that leg. Mitchie, can you show Dan to the bathroom?"

That same guy's voice from before made a rude remark about my timing. Michelle came up behind me, and led me towards the kitchen. I grabbed my backpack as we passed through, from where me and Drew had stashed ours and Nattie's stuff.

* * *

**AOF: This chapter wasn't how I wanted it to turn out, but rewriting it four times is more than enough.**


	7. Return of the Biggest Brat

_Astro._

"Team Gala...th-they-_what, _now?"

I had a couple scrapes and cuts from tangling with the Floatzel, and Amber tried to convince me to let her look at them, but I had bigger worries when Max told me what little they'd talked about. I could hardly form a sentence.

The big teenager with glasses, Drew, he looked positively astounded by me. "Did...is...is that pokemon talking?"

Amber was kneeling in front of Natalie(who was sitting in Dan's spot on the couch), wrapping gauze around her calf. "M'hm," She answered half heartedly. "He does that."

"Too much, a lot of the time," Dee added under her breath.

I disregarded her bitch attitude, and panicked for a second.

After being kidnapped by them as a Riolu, just hearing about Team Galactic struck a fearful nerve in my heart. I was still claustrophobic from being chained up and unable to move around. It was a horrible feeling. I couldn't even stand pokeballd, where I at least tolerate mine before. I could hardly breathe, thinking about Team Galactic.

"Th-there's no way!" I finally stammered out. "Cyrus-he...I mean-"

"That's what _I'm _saying!" Max agreed. "He's probably under high security or something, so he couldn't stillbe leader...unless a bunch of grunts or something never let Team Galactic die."

That let a whole new worry into my mind: what if they tried to break Cyrus out of prison? I tried not to mention it, at least in front of Max.

Natalie frowned. "But...what would they want with my brother?" She asked. "Gary wanted to be a professor, like Grampa, but I don't know how that would make any difference."

"Obviously, Aaron does," Drew told her scornfully. "Where the hell is this dude?"

"Volkner's in the kitchen, trying to call him," Amber answered helplessly. "He's supposed to be staying in Sandgem Town, I really don't kno-"

On cue, there was a hurried knock at the door. A familiar voice shouted, "Amber! Everybody still there?"

Max got up to answer the door. He opened it, and Aaron shoved himself inside; he looked exhausted for eleven in the morning.

"Frigging Lucas-" He paused to shake what looked like cinders out of his ashen blonde hair, "-can't even handle-" He wiped ashes off of his forearms, "a goddamn Chimchar! I swear, that kid is _useless!_"

Drew raised his pencil-thin eyebrows. "Did you get set on fire?"

"_Yes!_" The edges of his piss-yellow t-shirt were singed, and the ankles of his khaki pants, too. From his back pocket, his Pokegear rang.

Volkner came back from the kitchen on hearing the ringtone, and hung up. "Oh. You're here."

"Very much, Surge." As a final touch, Aaron dusted off his pants. "Sorry, had to help prep the starters for Mitchie. Professor wouldn't let me out of it. Have I missed anything?"

"Nothing fun, anyway," Flint answered.

"We were waiting for you," Dee added.

Aaron nodded. "Nice. Where's the kids?"

Natalie raised her hand. "Uh, here," She answered. "We've been here. I'm Gary's baby sister, Natalie."

Aaron nodded. "Did your friends-?"

"Ahem..." Drew cleared his throat, getting Aaron's attention. "Andrew Anderson. My brother, Dan, he's drying off Nattie's Sandshrew. There was an accident, and he got soaked." Drew offered his hand for a handshake, which I found weird.

Aaron nodded again, shaking Drew's hand. "Selectively mute kid, right? Talks only when he wants to?"

Drew drew his hand back like Aaron had used a joy buzzer on him. "Uhh..." He not-so-secretly wiped it on his jeans.

"Gary. Talked about you kids all the time. Yeah, I'll bet it's pretty creepy."

Okay, let's just stop for a second. Let me talk about Aaron for a moment. Just. Can I do that?

_{Um. Sure? If it helps you.}_

Aaron Wilkerson, he...he was such a weird dude. I think he drank hairspray or something, his hair was always hairsprayed all spikily. Like Lee used to do, for contests. And _speaking _of his hair, I swear, I think that frigging man was bleaching his hair with chlorine or something. You know how chlorine can turn your hair green if you're blonde enough?

Imagine that shade of green multiplied by four, divided by the shade of piss-colored cornstalk white his hair naturally was.

_[Astro, literally nobody has any idea what the hell you're talking about. Maybe **you **drank hairspray.]_

Shut up, Drew. Ain't nobody ask you.

_[Astro, you are **NOT**_** GHETTO!**_]_

Wow, you guys aren't fun.

Anyway, that's how I felt about Aaron. Not very high opinion of him.

As Aaron found a seat in the crowded living room, Dan returned, holding that Sandshrew Natalie had been so worried about in a towel bundle, followed by Michelle.

Dan and his brother, Drew, were so different. Drew was tall and thick, like a football player, with a look in his brown eyes like a hardened criminal and pasty white skin; meanwhile, Dan was shorter, tanned, and skinny as a rail, with wide, fearful brown eyes and shaggy brown hair. He looked more like Natalie than like Drew.

Natalie saw her Sandshrew in Dan's arms, and felt very nervous. Her anxiety made me feel sick. I managed to pick up a name from her.

"Lenny'll be alright," I assured her without so much as looking at her. "He just got a little wet. Sandshrew have tough skin, and I sense he must be a bit of a fighter. Quit worrying so much, it's making me nauseous."

All three pairs of eyes from Natalie, Drew, and Dan shot straight to me. Dan stood in the doorway of the kitchen, positively shaking. He seemed pretty easy to startle. I felt a little pity for him.

"That's..." Natalie was speechless.

"...incredible," Drew murmured, to finish her statement. "He just...knew how she feels, and he...fascinating..."

His mumbling made me a little uncomfortable. I hated being treated like a lab experiment.

"Astro does that," Amber hurriedly explained. "All Lucario can, really."

Dan returned Lenny to his trainer, and sat in between Natalie and Dee. Me and Michelle sat on the floor, next to Flint.

Naturally, Drew wanted to get to the heart of everything. "Aaron, why did you invite us to come all the way up north to Sinnoh?" He demanded. "We know you think Team Galactic had something to do with Gary's 'death', but why d-?"

Aaron held up a hand to shut him up. "Did you read the letter?"

_A letter? _I wondered. _Is that how Aar did it, a letter?_

"...Nat read it to us." Drew was a little flushed, in frustration. "But, your thought process...it just doesn't ma-"

"Give me some time to explain, kid. D'you mind?"

Drew frowned. In a childish fit, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his middle finger.

"Well, hurry up," He grumbled, narrowing his eyes. "I ain't a patient guy."


	8. Empty Goodbyes

_Dan._

_Later That Afternoon._

"Ugh...are we almost there?"

"Almost! Just a little further ahead!"

After Aaron explained everything Drew asked him to(which was a lot), Michelle insisted on leaving for Professor Rowan's lab the next town over, to get her starter pokemon.

Amber wanted to stay at home to talk something over with Volkner and Flint, and their brother, Max, refused to see his little sister off. Dee decided on her own to escort Michelle, and we left with them.

"We" including Aaron.

But I have to say, Dee is a phenomenal pokemon trainer. Aaron left his own pokemon at the lab("Had to leave someone to protect the lab, huh? Lucas' Turtwig is still just a baby..."), and Dee sent out her Glalie any time a wild pokemon tried to bother us. Just his face was enough to scare them away, but whatever wasn't startled off got a swift Headbutt.

"Now, you're gonna have to learn to battle with your own pokemon, Mitchie..." Dee lectured Michelle. "Little ones can have a hard time getting used to it at first, but you're both still learning. You're a lot more patient than Max, so it'll be easier for you to learn."

Michelle nodded. "I know, Dee. What starter d'ya think I should choose?"

Before Dee could answer, Aaron laughed. He rested his elbow on Michelle's head, teasing her.

"A Turtwig, of course!" He answered. "Nothing's more beautiful! With its cute little earthen she-!"

Dee elbowed him hard enough to knock him away from Michelle. "Piss off, Wilkerson!" She barked. "Michelle doesn't have a grass fetish like _you!_"

"What about you, Ice Queen? Were you gonna tell her Piplup's the way to go?"

"Screw off! My Glalie could eat Leafeon whole!"

I couldn't help snickering at them. Nattie elbowed me in the ribs, laughing, too.

"Remind you of anyone, Dan?" She whispered, thumb pointed at Drew. He was walking right behind the two arguing adults, staring straight ahead and sighing impatiently.

Michelle glanced at him. "What do you think, uh..." She laughed. "Sorry. I didn't get your name."

"Drew," He answered gruffly. "And shit, kid, I dunno. Choose whatever pokemon you want to have. It's not really something other people can decide for you."

"You think so?" She was wide-eyed, listening to every word he grumbled out. "What did you choose as your starter?"

Drew shrugged. "Well, I like water types, so I chose Squirtle," He answered. "That's one of the Kanto starters. Named him Squirty. My friend Nat has a Bulbasaur, named Kibia, and my brother named his Charmander Charcoal."

"Oh! I've heard of them! My friend Lucas met Professor Oak once, and Lucas got to see the Kanto starters! He even showed me their pokedex entries! Squirtle's really cute."

"Heh. Yeah...he is."

_Later._

It took about two hours to walk to Sandgem Town from Twinleaf. Pretty short, Aaron claimed, compared to a lot of places.

Michelle didn't even knock before entering the lab, because her and Aaron were there so often. And it looked so much different from Nattie's grandpa's lab.

Everything was well-organized, but the place was also much smaller. A yellow dog-like pokemon came trotting out when we walked in, and ran to Aaron.

He laughed, crouching down to pet it. "Aw, hey there, Leafeon. I wasn't gone that long, was I?" It licked his face eagerly.

Michelle continued happily on without him. "Lucas!" She called out. "Professor! I'm here!"

A boy came out from behind a bookshelf. He was around Michelle's age, if not older, wearing a black, collared, sleeveless vest and baggy blue jeans. There was a red cap on his head.

"Michelle!" He laughed. "Finally!"

An older man followed behind, walking calmly. He had white hair and a thick white beard, and a stern look in his eyes. Much less inviting than friendly old Professor Oak.

"Aaron, Dee, who are these kids?" He asked politely.

Those eyes felt entirely too piercing. I averted my eyes to the tiled floor, blushing in embarrassment.

Aaron tore his attention from his pokemon, but Nattie spoke up first. "I'm Natalie Oak, Professor Rowan, sir," She answered. "These're my friends, Drew-" She pointed to Drew. "-and Dan." She pointed to me next.

The professor nodded. "Your grandfather's told me about you, Natalie," He told her, a little bit of pity in his voice. "I'm so sorry about G-"

"Please don't say it." Nattie flashed a fake smile, her brownish green eyes glittering. "But thank you."

Before the awkward small talk could continue, Lucas took Michelle by the hand and took her further into the building. "C'mon! The pokemon are waiting!"

We followed behind them. There were three pokeballs on a long, white rectangle table, along with a pale pink pokedex. Lucas picked it up.

"I set them up myself, Mitchie!" He told her excitedly.

"Lucas!" Professor Rowan scolded him.

Lucas sort of jumped, and set the pokedex back down. "S-sorry, professor. Got a little excited."

Prof. Rowan went to the other side of the table and Lucas moved closer to us. Aaron went behind the table, cracking his knuckles enthusiastically. Michelle watched with eyes the size of pokeballs, fascinated.

Clearing his throat, Aaron glanced at the pokeballs. "Can I, professor?"

"In a moment." Prof. Rowan picked up the pokedex, presenting it to Michelle. "Michelle Daniels, this pokedex is a device that scans and stores prerecorded data on the pokemon of this earth, to help pokemon trainers educate themselves and help them on their journies. Will you accept it?"

Michelle nodded eagerly, her blue ponytails bobbing behind her shoulders. "Yes, sir!" She answered. He handed it to her, and she added, "Thank you so much!"

"Thank Amber, for ordering and buying it." I heard Aaron's foot tap impatiently. "Professor, now can I-?"

"Yes, Aaron," The older man answered.

Aaron grinned. "Yesss." He grabbed a pokeball, the one on the far left, and opened it. A green turtle-like pokemon came out, with a green sprout on its head and a beak-like mouth.

"This is Turtwig, the grass-type!" He gushed at Michelle. "He's a little shy, but very reliable. Like most grass types."

"Tur-twiiig!" Turtwig cooed.

Aaron moved to the next pokemon. A blue penguin-like pokemon came out, with a yellow beak. It flexed its wings as Aaron spoke.

"This is Piplup, the water-type." He wasn't as enthusiastic about Piplup. "Very prideful little bugger, but loyal as heck. Popular choice for girls, for whatever reason."

Finally, Aaron let out the last pokemon. It was an orange-furred monkey-like pokemon, with a swirl of fur on the top of its head and a little flame burning on its butt.

"This is, um...Chimchar. The fire-type starter." He shuddered a little before continuing. "Also popular with girls...but also a little volatile. Handle with care."

Chimchar crossed its arms and sat down, pouting. I laughed; it was a little cute.

Aaron spread his arms over the pokemon's heads. "So, Mitchie? What pokemon would you like?"

Michelle looked back over the three of them. Turtwig stared at her with a dopey, but happy look on his face; Piplup squeaked and held his wings out, asking to be picked up; and Chimchar refused to even look at Michelle.

"I don't know..." She answered, conflicted. "They're all so cute..."

Piplup squeaked even louder in frustration. Turtwig kept staring dumbly at her. Chimchar still pouted.

Finally, Michelle made a move. She picked up the Piplup from under his wings, and brought to her chest.

"I want Piplup," She announced. "Oh my gosh, he's so soft and cuddly!" Piplup nuzzled her neck. "Like, wow!"

Aaron laughed. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Absolutely!" Michelle was postively delighted by Piplup. Aaron happily handed her Piplup's pokeball, and she clipped it to a belt loop on her jeans.

Under all that beard, I saw Professor Rowan smile. "Well then. Good choice, Michelle."

Aaron returned the other two starters to their pokeballs. Michelle returned Piplup to its pokeball, and then hugged Professor Rowan.

"Thank you so much for giving me my starter and my pokedex, Professor!" She thanked him. "I'm going to take the best care of Piplup, and every pokemon I catch, too!"

_Outside._

After all that, Lucas saw us outside, to say his goodbyes to Michelle.

When he dashed back inside the lab, Dee hugged Michelle goodbye. She had to lean down low, and she hugged the girl tightly like it was her own sister.

"Oof. I'm gonna miss seeing you around, Mitchie."

Michelle laughed, a little sad. "I'm still gonna visit home, like Max and Barry," She promised.

Dee pulled away from the hug, and kissed Michelle on the forehead. "I'm sorry Amb couldn't see you off. And your bastard brother..." She glared at Aaron. "You better take care of her, Aaron!"

Seeing Dee tell Michelle goodbye made me so sad. Mine and Drew's mom never saw us off. Nattie's grandpa was still steaming mad at her, and she never got to tell Daisy or Tracey goodbye...

_That girl needs something to love. _The thought, directed at Dee hit me like a bolt of lightning. The way she told Michelle goodbye, it was nothing like she was just her sister's friend. Dee had an empty space in her life that Michelle wouldn't be there to fill. That made me even sadder.

As Dee turned around to walk back to Twinleaf Town, I opened my mouth.

"Wait! Dee! Come with us!"


	9. VS Ducky

_Dee._

I was so shocked to hear that kid's voice. Even more so for what he said.

When Dan called out to me, his voice sounded like a rusty squeak. Instantly, it caught my attention, and I turned around. He'd taken a step closer, while his friends look stunned.

Natalie whispered, "Dan..." while Drew stared at his brother in absolute amazement.

I could see the hesitant fear in his eyes. I raised my eyebrows. "What did you say?"

His tiny little Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Yo-you don't have to..." He gulped. "You sh-should..."

Drew put a hand on Dan's shoulder. "Dan, you don't have to-"

"Shut up!" His voice cracked and raised an octave. His response visibly terrfied his brother, and Drew immediately jumped back. "D-Dee, please...you could t-teach us all k-kinds of th-things about b-being trainers!"

I didn't know how to respond. I didn't even know this kid. "I don't think so. What about Aar-?"

"I-I-I'll battle you! Let me battle you, right here!" His voice and his skinny little arms shook.

What the hell do you say when a shaking, stuttering fourteen year old boy you don't know demands you travel with him? Like, seriously?

"Dan! You can't beat Dee!" Michelle squeaked out a warning. "She used to be one of the best coordinators around!"

"Seriously, dude," Drew agreed. "Let's just go..."

Dan paid no attention to them. His warm, chocolate-colored eyes stayed on me, his mouth a set line against his tanned face.

That kind of determination, it brought back memories of Riley, that crazy, dark-haired boy who hated taking no for an answer...

I clipped a pokeball off of my belt. "Aaron, do you think the professor would mind much?"

_A Few Minutes Later._

"Okay...battle!"

Professor Rowan had no qualms against us battling on front of the lab.

I took the pokeball I'd chosen earlier, probably the best choice for a beginner like him.

"Snover, I choose you!" Snover, a pokemon I'd caught shortly after our group split up seven years earlier, came out of her pokeball.

Dan frowned, seeing my choice. He chose his own pokemon, and sent it out.

"Ducky! Let's go!" He sent out a feather, brown, duck-like pokemon with a green stick. It must've been a Kanto thing.

From the sidelines, I heard Michelle power on her new pokedex. "Farfetch'd, the Wild Duck pokemon," It chirped out in a female voice. "Farfetch'd can't live without the stalk it constantly holds, which is why it will defend it to the death."

_Gonna be a hell of a fight... _The Farfetch'd, Ducky, waved its stalk threateningly at Snover.

Drew, refereeing the battle, glanced at his brother. "Begin!"

"Ducky, use Hidden Power!" Dan ordered right off the bat. His voice still had that rusty, raspy quality, like he had a very dry throat. "Blow Snover away!"

Ducky swirled his stalk in the air, and I saw it gather a gust of wind as it swirled. I had seen many Hidden Powers, and I assumed this one was flying-type.

"Snover, use Powder Snow!" Our pokemon had type advantages over each other, and I don't think that was an accident...maybe Dan wasn't such a greenhorn after all.

"Farfetch'd far!" Ducky used his stalk and swung it at Snover, slashing a huge gust of wind at her. Snover took a deep breath, and blew a frosty, snowy gust of wind at Ducky.

The two attacks hit each other, and the pokemon braced themselves. Ducky's Hidden Power blew a little bit of Snover's Powder Snow my way, whipping my ponytail around my back. I shivered violently at the sudden burst of cold.

"Sh-sh-shit!" I cried out. "Snover, use Ice Beam!"

"T-t-to the air, Ducky!" Dan had either gotten chill blasted as well, or was just still stuttering.

As Snover launched an ice-blue beam at Ducky, the Farfetch'd spread his wings and launched himself into the air. Snover's attack hit the ground, forming a chunk of ice in the dirt.

"A-Aerial Ace!" Dan was getting so excited. He really thought he had me on the ropes.

I grit my teeth in frustration. How could he think he had me beat?!

"Snover, use Ice Shard!"

Snover held her arms out, and a glowing chunk of ice appeared between them. She hurled the ice chunk at Ducky, striking a wing and knocking him out of the sky. He almost dropped his stalk.

Dan gasped. "No!"

"Now use Wood Hammer!" I was really getting into the heat of it. I'd basically stopped traveling after I turned sixteen, after the search for Tess was called off, so it had been about four years since I had had a good battle.

Snover raised her arms and began glowing green, humming. Then, she charged full-speed at Ducky just as he was stumbling back to his feet. He skidded back in the dirt as Snover charged at him, but he did his best to stand standing. I could see the strain it took him to fight back.

"Ducky! Use...use..." Dan wasn't sure what to do. He faltered, trying to think.

"Snover! Finish it off with Ice Punch!" Better to put poor Ducky out of his misery than keep the battle going.

Snover, still in close range, charged up the icy attack. Her fist glowed bright, pale blue as she pulled her arm back, then punched Ducky with the power of a raging blizzard. Ducky slid back in the dirt from the attack, and collapsed with a groan. His stalk was still tightly held in his feathers.

Dan's brother stared at the Farfetch'd in disappointment. "...Ducky is unable to battle," He announced in a monotone. "The winner is Snover, and the victory goes to Dee."

All the excitement Dan had shown me in battle fell from his face. He looked devastated to see his pokemon beaten. He looked down as he silently returned his Farfetch'd to his pokeball.

You could absolutely tell he wasn't experienced with battles. I felt almost bad for being so rough.

_Drew._

For Dan to so much as speak to Dee like he did, let alone yell at _me,_ was completely disorienting. To see him battle was terrifying.

Back in Pallet Town, the three of us all had our own pokemon(Nat had Lenny, I had a Vulpix, and Dan had Ducky), but Dan never really battled much. Lenny and my Vulpix, Pixel, were always competitive and urged me and Nat to battle, but Dan was far too laid back. I had never seen him challenge anyone in his life.

To see Dee and her Snover handle Ducky and Dan so roughly...it actually hurt _me._ Because he's my brother, you know? And he looked so disappointed to have lost.

"You really dove in there too fast, huh, kid?" Dee returned Snover to the pokeball. "Too focused on winning than on actually battling. You can't just power through like that."

Dan already looked so down. She had no need to critisize him like that. I wanted to march over to her and _hit _her; she was taller than me, but I had no qualms about hitting people who mess with Dan.

Then, she continued.

"Shit, and Aaron's the exact same way...he'd be such a crap teacher for you kids."

"Hey!" Aaron blushed, glaring at her. "Don't say that, you _punk!_"

Dee threw her hands up in a defeated gesture. "I guess I'm going to have to go with you, huh?" She admitted. "All Aaron could teach you is how to grow the most beautiful marijuana plants!"

"Piss off, you friggin' dyke!" Dee's eyebrows twitched at the slur thrown her way, but she didn't lash out further.

I heard Michelle gasp. "Really, Dee?" She asked excitedly. "You'll come traveling with us?"

Dee laughed. "I just said so, didn't I, Mitchie?" She grinned ear to ear. She must've really loved that kid.

For a moment, Aaron still looked angry. Then he cocked an eyebrow, a sly grin crossing his features. "You'll just up and leave, with nothing but the clothes on your back?"

Dee swaggered up to him. "I'll call my mom, have her pack a bag with clothes and supplies," She explained, an edge to her voice, "then have Barry deliver it to Jubilife." Aaron leaned away from her, very obviously intimidated by her.

Meanwhile, like some sick kind of fangirl, Dan was very quietly watching every move Dee made. His eyes followed every step, every slight hand gesture as she intimidated Aaron Wilkerson.

All I could think was, _I want this girl to stay as far away from Dan as I can possibly push her._


	10. The Rise of Pluto

_Lee._

After I regained consciousness, I was forced to stay in bed for over a week to regain my strength. Being in a coma for years at a time can do that to you.

By then, I had been transported to a different building in a different location. Given a room and an actual bed. Still hooked up to machines, but not under constant surviellence. At least twice a day, identical-looking young men and women came in to bring me my meals(which were rather tasteless and bland, but I never complained). It was comfortable enough for me; something in me told me that I had been in much worse situations before.

Some of them, known as grunts, were chatty. Told me that I still looked a lot like death warmed over, or that they were surprised the higher-ups had made such a big fuss over a "scrawny goth kid". They weren't exactly the most flattering remarks, but I didn't care.

Since the admins, they told me, were known by pseudonyms named after Roman gods, the grunts nicknamed me Pluto. I wasn't told or given a name otherwise, so I was stuck being called Pluto.

One of the nicer grunts eventually told me who Pluto was. The Roman god of the underworld, known in other mythology as Hades. I didn't even have the energy to feel offended.

What I _did_ have energy for was thinking. I wanted to know who I was, or at least my own name. How I had been in that condition for so long, and what had done it. Why was everything kept such a secret from me, the person it mattered to the _most?_

Finally, after God knows how long, someone besides the same grunts as always entered my room. A hunched-over veteran scientist, with the lab coat and a clipboard with what I assumed was information on me.

"Good, you're awake," He announced. "I haven't seen you in quite a while. I hear the lower grunts took to calling you Pluto."

I recognized the voice as Charon, the scientist I had heard when I had first woken up. I nodded.

"Uhh...y-yes, sir," I answered. "I don't really have a choice, I guess, because I don't have anything else to ask them to call me." I wanted to ask about the clipboard, but didn't dare.

Charon chuckled softly, checking his papers. "Well...Pluto..." He began. "Based on some tests we've been running on you to determine your physical condition, it seems you're a rather healthy young man, despite your little catnap."

I raised my eyebrows. "S-seriously?" I had been in bed for days, it was a miracle I could even remember how to walk.

Charon nodded. "Except for your bad lungs, but it's assumed you were a heavy smoker." I did have a rather nasty cough sometimes, but I just decided not to pick up smoking again. "After a few more days to have you settle in, you'll be beginning Team Galactic's grunt training program."

This was unbelievable. How could I be ready for anything like that so quickly?

"Is...is that what you guys are called?" My voice trembled. "Team Galactic? Why do I have to join?"

"It's been decided by the admins that you would be a very beneficial member of our organization because of your...unique talents."

_Unique...talents?_ I wondered. _What could I possibly be good at? Heavy sleeping? Being a paperweight?_

"You're going to be trained to be a proper member of Team Galactic, Pluto, and after a period of training, will be allowed graduate to participating in field missions with a pokemon assigned to you. You'll be transported to a training facility in just a few days, based on your rapid recovery, so be expecting that."

Without so much as a second breath or a goodbye, Charon left my room and shut the door behind him.

All of that had come so fast. I was going to be trained to be one of the nameless, faceless men wearing what looked like a space jumpsuit. I would go out in the world on "field missions", whatever that meant. I would be allowed back out into the world. Back after being out for so long. It was terrifying, but at the same time, maybe...

_Maybe...maybe I'll meet Mark again... _I drifted into a light sleep, wondering what kind of person could stay in my memories through severe enough head trauma to cause total amnesia.

_Amber._

"Flint, you...you really think that he'd do that for me?"

Flint grinned his favorite dorky grin as he answered, "Yeah, I do! You know Buck! He's so much nicer than your dick of a brother!"

"Hey!" Max sauntered back from the kitchen, a soda in hand. Barry was on the phone with Dee in the kitchen, and I could hear him getting frustrated.

Volkner offered a courtesy glare. "What? You are. You're the biggest dick on the block, Maxie." He didn't even sound sarcastic.

Max glared back at him. I shook my head, laughing; seeing the two of them glare each other down was just too funny.

What I'd talked to Flint and Volkner about was Flint's little brother, Buck; Buck was Max's age, and good friends with him and Barry. Max hated having to look after Michelle, and I wouldn't trust Aaron to bake a cake, let alone make sure my baby sister is taking care of herself. I had to grasp at any straws I could. Call me overprotective, or even crazy, but I still saw her as that innocent little baby girl Momma had raised.

Max slunk back into the kitchen, pouting. Barry was still talking to his sister, and I could hear them arguing pretty heatedly. She was asking him to do her a favor, or something.

"Damn, you'd really think they're blood," Flint commented absently, sipping the soda in his hand.

"Huh? Who?"

"Who do you think? Barry and Dee. You'd think they crawled out of the same wo-"

He was cut off by a sharp knock to the door. Flint sighed, annoyed, at the interruption. I jumped up to get the door.

There were two boys, a bit older than Max, on the other side. One had short dirty blonde hair, warm gray eyes, and a notepad to write on; the other had dark hair and eyes, a smiling Pikachu on his shoulder, and looked a little disheveled.

"Excuse us, ma'am," The dark-haired boy sort of half-grumbled.

"My name is Kenta Landry, and this is Col Leech," The blonde introduced them both with a polite smile. "Is Aaron Wilkerson here? I'd like to speak with him.

Really? The second group in the past few hours asking for Aaron? How many people did he give our address away to?!

"I'm so sorry, you just missed him," I apologized. "I could call him if you really need it, he can't have gotten too far-"

"There's no need for any of that. I think my partner and I are more than capable of tracking him down." Kenta glanced at Col. "Isn't that right?"

"I'm not your partner." Compared to grinning Kenta, Col looked terrifying. I couldn't comprehend how they ended up working together.

I cleared my throat. "Um, track him down...?" I was definitely going to call Aaron after I closed the door. "Exactly who are yo-?"

"I'm a reporter for several reputable newspapers and magazines. Don't give me that look, I swear I am. My par-er, my companion, he's a trainer from another region who I thought would be more cooperative. So, Mr. Wilkerson's not here?"

Kenta got straight to the point. I shook my head. "Um, no. He left. He doesn't even live here."

Kenta nodded. "M'hm. Well, thank you anyway!" He closed the door himself, and I heard the two of them shuffle off the stoop.

My head was still reeling. Not only did Aaron invite _more_ kids to my house, but it seemed like those two were on more of an important mission than Natalie and her friends.

A reporter and a scary-looking guy, neither of whom I'd ever met, were looking to speak with Aaron...who was likely looking after Michelle...

"_Maaaaax!_ _Barry!_" I called for the boys without another moment's hesitation. "Get in here!"

* * *

**AOF: Col Leech is one of my friends' characters, Lazy Quark, and 100% not mine.**

**AOF: Also, Lazy Quark is a hella cool dude.**


	11. Adult Responsibilities

_Michelle._

_Several Days Later._

When we got to Jubilife City, it looked amazing, with so many tall buildings and street shops. I had been there before, shopping with Amber, but now I was a pokemon trainer! I didn't have to be babied around anymore!

"Mitchie, stay near us, okay? Amber'd go batshit crazy if I lost you." Dee destroyed my assumption almost immediately.

Her and Aaron had been coddling me the whole way from Sandgem, whenever they weren't screaming at each other. I hadn't even been able to catch any pokemon with my Piplup because of them arguing!

But that older boy out of the two, Drew, he took charge better than the adults. I told him I wanted to enter the pokemon contest that week, so he rented two rooms in the pokemon center for us; one for the three boys, and one for the three girls. Nurse Joy happily handed him the two keys, and he nodded at her, a polite smile on his face.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," He thanked her sincerely. You could really tell he was raised in the south; not only did he have the accent, but he could be very polite to adults. Kids, not so much.

After he left the counter and Nurse Joy continued with what she was doing, we all went upstairs to the second floor to drop our things off. When we were done, we went downstairs, and Drew handed the girls' key to his friend Natalie.

"Hold onto that, it's the only one," He instructed her. "Got it, Nat?"

"Uh-huh. Really, I'm not a child, Drew."

I could see Dee getting offended. "Excuse me, shouldn't the oldest one have the key?"

Most people who don't know her would flinch away, but Drew made direct, defiant eye contact. "What, you mean you?" He was definitely not afraid of her.

"Yes, me! Who else would be the oldest, you idiot, Michelle?" Dee crossed her arms. "I'm twenty years old, I can keep track of a stupid key."

"You act like my eight year old sister," Drew scoffed. "Just so damn _childish. _I wouldn't trust you to tie my shoe, let alone keep something like a room key! You'd probably pout and bicker at it." He shot the stink eye at Aaron. "_Both_ of you."

Surprised, Aaron pointed at his chest. "Me?" He asked. "What'd I do?"

There never really was an answer. Drew groaned, shaking his head. "I think...we should probably split up to explore the city. It'd do me some good, at least, to get away from Rocky and Bullwinkle."

"Hey!" Aaron and Dee both protested. "That was a shitty analogy!"

Drew shot daggers at them with his eyes. Dee actually bared her teeth at him, like she would do when Flint was being a butthole to her. Drew's brother, Dan, looked pale and scared stiff from the tension between them.

"Ye-yeah, I think Drew's right!" Natalie grabbed Drew by the arm and pulled him away from Dee, keeping a hand on his shoulder. "We've all been together for days, it's getting a little...tense. How about we just meet back up here at the pokemon center?"

Her approval of the idea made the tension disappear in his eyes. He grunted, readjusting his glasses before they slipped down his nose.

"If it ever so pleases our exalted elders," He drawled out in a dark tone, "may we discuss when we should meet back up?"

Either Aaron brushed off Drew's sarcasm, or he was just ignorant of it. "It's almost eleven, so I guess four or five o' clock should be plenty of time to get lunch and mess around the city," He answered, jumping in before Dee did. "Does that sound alright with you guys?"

Natalie and Dan nodded. "Yeah," Natalie chirped.

Aaron glanced curiously at me. "Mitchie?"

"Huh?"

"What do you think, four or five a good time to come back?"

It finally hit me; he was giving me my first decision as a grown-up pokemon trainer. I wasn't prepared to have a say in it.

"Y-yeah, that sounds fair." I glanced down and felt my face flush pink. Aaron laughed, and teasingly batted one of my pigtails away. Everyone liked playing with my hair.

Drew and his friends split as soon as possible. I wasn't so anxious.

I grabbed her sleeve as soon as she started to leave with Aaron. "Deedee..."

Her hard expression softened. "Something wrong?"

"I don't, um...have any money." Amber hadn't given me any. I was broke.

Dee grinned, and laughed. "Don't worry, Mitchie. Momma got you." She pulled her wallet from her back pocket. "Amb gave me some cash before we left, to give to you..." She counted it out silently, then handed it to me. "Here."

It was... "A hundred dollars?! Are you serious?" Dee handed me ten ten dollar bills!

"Don't spend it all today, or in once place." Dee spoke sternly to me, like Amber would. "And also..." She reached in her back pocket again, and pulled out her icy-blue pokegear. "I'll be going around with Aaron today. If anything happens to you or you get lost, call his number. It's saved in there."

I nodded eagerly, happy to have to have some responsibility for myself. "Okay. Thanks, Dee!"

Breaking apart from the seriousness, Dee laughed and hugged me. She kissed my forehead.

"Love you, brat," She teased. "Don't get lost!"

"Okay, I promise! Love you too, Dee!"

She hurried out of the pokemon center with Aaron, and left me inside. I left just a minute later, to go explore the city.

_Third-Person View._

_In Canalave City, Earlier That Morning._

"Ugh...man, that was a long trip, Treek."

A girl with strawberry-blonde hair stepped off of her ship at Canalave Harbor, stretching her aching muscles. It had been a long boat ride from Hoenn.

"What d'ya think, Treecko?" She turned her head to her companion on her shoulder, a small, gecko-like grass-type named Treecko. "Mark sent us to a dump, huh?"

He nodded. "Treeecko," He cooed. "Tree tree."

The girl laughed, and hurried on her way through the port town. She had heard on the boat that there would be a pokemon contest tomorrow night in the next town over, Jubilife, and couldn't wait to get in on the action.

She looked much like her older brother; she had reddish-blonde hair and sharp green eyes, with darkly tanned skin and a thick dusting of freckles. Her short ponytail bobbed at her neck and and her flipflops slapped the soles of her feet as she speedwalked through the town, not bothering to spend the night at the pokemon center or see the sights.

Maggie was in Sinnoh strictly on business, but she was a coordinator by heart; she could never resist the call of a challenge.

* * *

**AOF: Maggie's been mentioned several times by Mark, but never actually introduced in the story.**


	12. On the Town

_Natalie._

"Really? I don't think that's right..."

"Trust me, Nat. I heard someone at the pokemon center talking about it."

"But...would they even have green?"

"Shut up about it, let's just look already! Hurry up, Nat! And Dan!"

Drew had heard something about a promotion in the city, for something called a Poketch; we had to find three clowns and answer questions about pokemon. If we could collect three vouchers and bring them to the Poketch company building, we would win free ones.

Jubilife wasn't the biggest city we'd ever been to; I had visited Celadon City one time, with Tracey and the twins, and it was bigger. With a shopping center.

Drew grabbed my hand and Dan's, and hauled us around the streets. I drug my heels in the sidewalk, trying to slow him down.

"Dr-Dr-_stop!_" I huffed. "You're going too fast!"

Drew glanced at me, with big, oblivious eyes behind his glasses. "What? Too much?"

Dan nodded his head vigorously, shaggy bangs flopping in his face. He rubbed his wrist, wincing. Drew had a strong grip.

I rolled my eyes. "Really, is a stupid watch so much of a big deal?" I demanded. "My Pokegear can tell me the time. Not to mention call, text, musi-"

"But...but listen,this is supposed to be _cutting-edge technology_, Nat," Drew explained, half breathless. "Can make our Pokegears look like shit in comparison. Besides, Silph Co. is getting old, and where else could we get a watch that has a built in-"

"Alright, alright," I agreed grumpily. "You're getting nerd all over the sidewalk."

"Hell yeah I am!"

Dan snickered at his brother's excitement. He hid his mouth behind his hand, softly laughing.

I crossed my arms, rolling my eyes teasingly. "So, if we're gonna find these 'vouchers', where do you suppose we look?" I demanded of Drew. "If you're gonna be so stubborn."

Before I even finished, Drew was getting out a notebook from his pocket. "I made a list of possible places the clowns would be, based on last year's contest for free Poketches of last year's model," He answered. "Jubilife is a bit of a compact city, not as big as Celadon or Saffron, so it can't really be too hard for us to find the clowns."

Drew turned pages in the notebook, until he reached what he searched for. He handed it to me. "Here it is." It was in atrocious-looking cursive, but I could mostly read it.

**_JUBILIFE CLOWNS:_**

_-Global Trade Station_

_-Jubilife TV Station_

_-Outside Poketch Corp building_

_-Maybe outside p center?_

_-_[couldn't read this part]

"Wow," I laughed. "When did you even-?"

"When we were storing our stuff in the rooms," Drew interrupted. "Aaron gave me some ideas, I jotted them down. He did it last year, to get the Poketch."

Quickly, I closed the notebook and handed it back to him. "Well. I guess we oughta get started, huh?"

We started down the street again, but Dan was a little slow to start. I grabbed him by the hand and tugged him along.

"C'mon, Danny! You gotta help us find the clowns!"

_Around 4:30 that Afternoon._

"Is that...is that the last voucher?"

"Well, count them, stupid. Did we get any of them twice?"

We stood on the street outside the Poketch Company building, Dan and I nevously watching Drew count the vouchers we had collected. We had spent all day combing the streets for clowns; we only stopped for twenty minutes at noon for lunch.

Drew fanned them out. "Voucher one..." He pulled it out into his left hand. "Voucher two..." He pulled that one out, too. "Vouc-"

"**_NOOO!_**"

There was a commotion at the doors of the building. I snapped my head in the direction of it, thinking the voice was familiar.

A boy was kicked out onto the pavement, and he was obviously the one who'd shouted. From behind, I could see he had shaggy black hair, wore a black t-shirt, and baggy jeans with nice white tennis shoes. A purple pokemon with gems for eyes scurried out the door after him.

"Get lost!" A harsh adult voice shouted out at him. "We don't need ya no more, kid!" The door was slammed in his face before he could react.

The boy scrambled to his feet, babbling hysterically. He pounded on the door, hair swishing around his face.

"_No!_" He screamed. "I have to see my sister! _Let me back in! **LET ME BACK IN!**_" He was half crying.

When he had gotten up, a smashed pair of lenses had flung themselves off of his face and to the ground. They glinted golden in the sunlight as he lost his mind trying to get back inside...

"Carlisle!" It finally clicked who it was; my cousin, Carlisle! I ran to him, wondering what had happened with his sister. The twins followed.

Immediately, Drew tried to stop him. He grabbed Carlisle from behind, pulling him away. Carlisle fought back, but Dan worked with his brother and held Carlisle by the arms. For a skinny kid, Dan was surprisingly strong.

"Let me go! Let me...let me go..." Carlisle lost his burst of energy, and half-collapsed in Drew's arms. Drew let him fall to the ground, earning a sour look from Dan.

The purple pokemon dashed to his trainer, trying to console him. "Saay...sable..." He rubbed Carlisle's back. I recognized it as his Sableye.

Carlisle sat on his knees on the pavement, hands over his mouth to muffle the sound as he tried to stop crying. He was so upset, it was unbelievable; but, he was always the sensitive one in the family.

After a moment of hesitation, I kneeled next to him. "...Car? Carlisle?"

He hiccupped, disturbing his hanging bangs, and I saw a black eye that I hadn't seen before. It must have been how his glasses got smashed. "N...Nattie...my sister..."

"Is Katie okay?" I asked softly. "She's not, is she?"

"That was some pretty rough customer service..." Drew pointed out. I could hear the frown in his voice.

Carlisle shook his head, closing his eyes tight. "No..." He sighed out, voice quiet and muffled by his hand. "They...they took her. Told me all they needed was her...I couldn't even save Jay."

"Who the hell is 'they', kid?" Drew demanded. "Must be some dicks."

It looked like Carlisle was starting to calm himself. He took his hand from his mouth, taking deep, shaky breaths.

"Th-they called themselves...Team Galactic," He murmured. "They wanted Dad's money...so they k-k-"

"Kidnapped Katie," Drew muttered to himself. His brown eyes were the size of golf balls behind his glasses. "Oh, my God. Nat. We have to get Aaron and Dee."

We pulled Carlisle back up to his feet. His pale face was red and splotchy from crying and his own anger. "Who?"

"Trust me, they know about Team Galactic. C'mon." I took Carlisle by the hand, and we lead him back to the pokemon center, to talk with the older ones.

_Dee._

_At the Pokemon Center._

"What the [expletive deleted], what the [expletive deleted]! Where the hell are they, why are they not here?!"

Aaron was a little jittery about the teenagers not returning on time. Michelle watched him curiously, watching him pace around and swear like a sailor.

"*slurp* I don't see the big deal." Barry and Max had dropped off my bag while we were out, and dropped something else off, too; Astro. Max claimed he'd snuck out when him and Barry left the house. Astro had even convinced me to buy him a triple-caffiene shot white chocolate mocha. By which I mean he stole three caffiene shots and dumped them in there himself, the little shit.

I whapped Aaron on the back of the head, breaking off his train of thought. Aaron glared at me, and I pointed at Michelle.

"Do you see that?!" I hissed at the 23 year old. "Do you know what that is?! That is a _ten year old **GIRL**._ If you shout one more word they would bleep out on TV, I am going to shove that stick so much farther up your a-!"

Aaron waved me off, and marched to the entrance of the Pokemon Center. I whirled around on my heel, and saw what was the matter.

Natalie, Drew, and Dan were finally gracing us with their appearance, with another boy with them who looked like death's timid bastard son. He was shaking like a leaf.

"Aaron!" Natalie cried out. "Aaron, you've gotta-!"

"Where the hell were you kids?!"

"Aaron, we know we promised 4 o' clock," Drew asserted. "But, something happened. You, Dee, you've gotta...is that that talking Lucario?"

"Please, sir, you've gotta listen!" The black-haired boy pleaded.

"Team Galatic, they kidnapped my cousin!" Natalie chimed in desperately.

Behind me, Astro stopped his incessant slurping of that damn coffee. I could actually feel the powerful chill go through his spine, and I'm sure I saw goosebumps raise on Aaron's arms as he fell silent.

* * *

**AOF: Katie and Carlisle were most definitely not introduced in the beginning of the story for nothing.**


	13. After You

_Astro._

In all honestly, I almost choked at the words "Team Galactic". My heart probably stopped for a few seconds.

"...What was that?" My voice was quiet and calm. My paws were balled into tight, but painful, fists. "Nattie. What did you just say?"

Aaron and Dee were staring at me, probably having forgotten I was there. Aaron's arms and shoulders were rigid with surprise; Dee looked like she was watching a rabid animal.

After the moment passed, Aaron shook his head and glanced at Natalie's other cousin, Carlisle. "Um, kid...who are you? Can you explain anything?"

The kid gulped, glancing down. I could see he had a frightening shiner on his left eye; someone must have had a nasty right hook. "I-I'm Carlisle," He answered. He spoke slowly, like he was carefully choosing his words. "Carlisle Urmine. I'm Nattie's cousin, and, um...my sister, she...Team Galactic took her hostage. And all of the Poketch Company. They-"

"But what _happened?_" Dee asked. "Why, specifically, your sister?"

Carlisle found the courage to meet her gaze. "My sister, she...our dad, he's a real big businessman. And he's been helping the Poketch Company try to make business partnerships between bigger electronics companies, like Silph Co. and Devon Corp. Dad brought us while he's on a business trip, because he thought we'd enjoy the city, and Team Gala-"

"They want your dad's money," Dee summarized. "They're holding her for ransom. And I'll bet they want to squeeze the Poketch Company for as much as it's worth, too."

"Is that what's going on?" Aaron asked.

Carlisle nodded. "I tried to fight them when they kicked me out of the building," He added regretfully. "I lost a pokemon battle, then when I tried to get physical...they beat me up and broke my glasses. I can't even see..."

"Those bitches," Drew muttered. I'm sure he understood the glasses struggle perfectly well, with his absolutely charming personality.

After hearing what was going on, I stood up. As I tried to march off, Dee grabbed my arm.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Astro Daniels?" She hissed in my ear, quiet enough so they might not have heard.

I unballed my cramping fists. "We have to go save that girl."

"Are you insane?! You can't just go marching in there yourself, you frigging idiot."

"Well, it worked pretty damn well with Riley!"

"Riley also probably suffered enough brain damage to make him a drooling idiot by now! What kind of super intelligent being are you supposed to be?!"

"Deadra, _what_ are you arguing about?" Aaron asked accusingly.

That managed to make her shut up, but she kept a painfully tight grip on my upper arm. I winced in pain.

Aaron glanced away from the two of us. "Well, what do you kids want us to do?"

Drew looked like he had been slapped in the face. "What the hell do you mean, what do we want you to do?" He demanded. His pale skin flushed in indignation. "Who was talking just a few days ago about wanting to make sure they don't rise again, or whatever?! Are you such a _moron _that you already forgot?"

"Aaron, Dee, please, you've gotta help us save Katie," Natalie begged. "I don't know how much Team Galactic wants out of my uncle, but I know it'll probably be a lot. And Carlisle said he's not even sure they'll give her back 'undamaged'. Please, please, haven't you fought them before?!"

She was really, truly worried for her cousin's safety. The boy, Carlisle, was positively shaking in his boots, so to speak. I knew how it felt; if anything happened to Max's Riolu, Daisy, or to Amber or Michelle...

"Astro, are you in?" Excitement flashed in Aaron's emerald eyes, and something sparked in him that I hadn't seen since that Oak boy had died.

As if he actually needed to ask. It was practically a rhetorical question.

_Katelynn Urmine._

_Inside the Poketch Company._

_(Eww...Kent, do you really have to use my whole name? I really do prefer Katie.)_

_[Sorry, Katie, but I prefer to use whole names the first time you begin narration. I promise, I'll use Katie after this.]_

"Keep quiet, you damn kid! You're lucky you're allowed to keep that stupid fairy. Don't push it."

My Togetic, Jay, shivered in my lap at that poisonous remark. I glared at the woman holding me captive.

_Cut me down, but it's you_

_Who'll have further to fall._

I was tied up in a chair, with my wrists tied together behind me and my ankles tied to each leg of the chair. Jay was tightly tied to my stomach, his wings pinned between us. Neither of us could wriggle free at all; whoever it was, they sure knew their knots.

My captor was a young Team Galactic admin, using the alias Mars. I had no intention of waiting for my father to pay any sort of ransom; the only bills I wanted him to pay for me were for my Pokegear.

_Ghost towns, and_

_Haunted love..._

There were many Galactic grunts scattered around the building, along with Mars herself on the top floor office, with me. They had taken opportunity of Daddy taking the company president out to a business lunch, and seized the building with only employees, me, and Carlisle present. They thought Carlisle was my friend, instead of my brother, and so they kicked him out.

I hung my head in shame. "I'm sorry you got in this, Jay," I mouthed. Jay looked up at me, worriedly. I closed my eyes, frowning. "I'm sorry, Car..."

_You'll raise your voice, but sticks_

_And stones may break my bones_

Jay craned his neck up, and nuzzled my chin. I opened my eyes; he chirped aggressively at me. "To-to get tic."

I understood what he meant. _This is no time to give up,_ I reminded myself. _There's no way Carlisle could save me on his own, the big baby. God knows how long before Daddy finds out. I have to do this on my own...I have to save my own damn self!_

_I'm talking loud,_

_Not saying much._

Mars had stopped talking and ranting for the moment. I took the oppourtunity to gather my thoughts.

_I have all four of my pokemon on me...Jay is too scared stiff to use any attacks. I could send out Peanut to distract Mars and have Buddy bite through these ropes, but...Mars has a Purugly, and a slow Quagsire like Peanut would hardly be a distraction. I could use FlareBurst, but Quilavas hardly have the stamina to fight a beast like Purugly...auuuggghh! Damn, damn, double damn it all!_

"Something wrong, brat?" Mars' voice cut at me like knives. "Getting antsy?"

I shook my head stubbornly. "No, ma'am," I replied. "Just...freakin'...peachy." I clasped my hands together behind the chair I was bound to, trying to think of a new plan...

_Natalie._

"The door's locked. Why the [expletive deleted] didn't we expect that? What now, Baby Einstein?"

Drew was still off on the wrong foot with Aaron and Dee. Drew gets off on the wrong foot with everybody.

"Lenny can pick locks," I offered as an idea. "His claws. He keeps them well maintained."

Aaron raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Your-your _Sandshrew_ can pick locks?" Dee reaffirmed.

I nodded. "Yeah. It was a trick Len-Len picked up." I walked over to the door of the Poketch Company building, holding Lenny level to the door. "Ready, Lenny?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "San sandshrew!" Lenny unsheathed his full claws from his paws, choosing one. He examined it carefully, then he eased it into the lock of the building's door. Lenny had picked a surprisingly large amount of locks before; sometimes, back at home, Dan would get angry at Drew and lock him out of their room.

As Lenny carefully jimmied the lock, it clicked. Lenny retracted his claws, laughing happily. "Saanndshrew!"

I wriggled the doorknob around, testing it. I laughed, rubbing Lenny's rough little head gratefully. "Great job, Lenny!"

Before I could barge into the building, Aaron grabbed my by the wrist. "Wait-Nattie!"

He yanked me back, away from the door. I turned attention to him, almost angrily. What now?!

"You can't just-just barge in there. There's bound to be Team Galactic grunts in there; probably incompetent, but enough to be a problem. Lemme go in first."

"Wait, what?" Astro protested. "I think I should. I'm an actual pokemon, and therefore can afford to be stupid."

"Don't be stupid, Azzy, you're stupid anyway. With a head hard as steel."

Irritating at it was, Aaron had a point; I was enthusiastic about rescuing Katie, but being the first in the building meant that I would be the first one the grunts would target. Not to mention I was the smallest(besides Michelle, but she was practically attached to Dee), and the skinniest. One stiff Gust attack from a Pidgey could knock me over. Aaron was right, and as childish as it sounds, I hated that he was right.

"Fine, Aaron," I conceded. "After you."


	14. Michelle's First Real Battle

_Drew._

_Ten Seconds Later._

"What the [expletive deleted], what the [expletive deleted]?! You blew a hole in the goddamn door, Astro!"

Astro blew the smoke from his paw. "I got tired of waiting. You were bargaining with Little Bit, and I got tired of waiting." Astro walked through the hole he had blasted in the metal doors of the building.

I learned pretty damn quick that Astro was stupid, but efficient.

While Aaron kept babbling out scoldings, Astro pointed his left paw at the group of Galactic grunts playing poker in a corner. They were scared stiff, completely unable to move.

"-someone is _definitely _going to have to pay for that-!"

"Alright, maggots!" Astro barked. "There's a little girl being held in this building against her will! You're going to either let us go peacefully and find her, or I'm gonna do what I just did to that door to _your asses! _We have a pleasant agreement?"

Four or five heads nodded, turquoise bowl cut wigs swishing. Either they knew who Astro was, or feared him for what he threatened.

Astro faced Aaron, grinning. "See? Negotiation, buddy. I should leave Twinleaf more often!"

It was absolutely fascinating how they feared Astro. Even Dee and Aaron did, a little; I wasn't sure how Aaron knew Astro's trainer, but I could easily see Dee was Amber's best friend, and even Dee held Astro at arm's length. Could he really be so volatile? Or was it all just brute strength?

Aaron shook his head, muttering disgusted swears. Dee jabbed him in the rib, a sour look on her face.

"His way usually does end up working better than ours," I heard her murmur to him. "You need to trust Astro's judgement more."

We marched up to the second floor of the building, and Astro politely persuaded yet another group of grunts into letting us pass. I'm sure whatever Galactic superiors were in the building had heard the commotion by then.

_These are new grunts. _I wasn't sure if the thought had occurred to any of them, but it had been bothering me for a time. Sure, it was necessary for some previous members to organize a revival of the team, but for it to gain any strength, new members were almost required. Probably enough to outnumber the old members. If Team Galactic has been sighted all around the region, from Eterna City to Sunyshore City, it would mostly be greenhorns on these missions...

I felt a tug at my sleeve, and Dan was waiting for me. He nudged his head towards the stairs to the next floor, where everyone else went.

_Come on, _he was telling me. I followed him, and found Nat was waiting at the top of the stairs for us.

Upstairs, I found Michelle was battling a Team Galactic grunt.

_Michelle._

"Wait! Azzy! Let me battle them!"

Astro looked at me like I was crazy. "Mitchie?! But-"

"-You've never been in a real battle before," Dee added in a hushed voice.

I stopped Astro before he could bully the next wave of grunts into letting us pass, grabbing his arm. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to have my first real pokemon battle.

On the way to Jubilife City, Drew was nice enough to let me and my Piplup have a few practice battles with his Vulpix, and he taught me a few neat tricks. And I had seen my big brother and Barry battle dozens of times, both in person and on TV. I was more than confident in myself and my pokemon.

"Bubbles! C'mon, let's battle!" My Piplup, Bubbles, came out of his pokeball, flapping his wings excitedly. I caught his pokeball as it bounced back at me.

At the sight of my Piplup, the grunts burst out into fits of laughing. It felt embarrassing. It made Azzy mad, too; I could see his aura in my peripheral vision, eletric blue and swirling like an angry cloud around him.

Eventually, one grunt, a woman, managed to calm down. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Ha ha haa..." She snickered. "A newbie, battling us? You got moxie, kid." She produced a pokeball from her uniform. "I guess I'll beat it outta you! Zubat, let's tear her apart!"

The grunt sent out an eyeless, blue pokemon with wings. Bubbles squeaked angrily at it, like he knew who his opponent was. I didn't have time to scan it.

"Bubbles, use Peck!" I figured if I started off with a strong attack, like Drew would, I wouldn't be going wrong.

Bubbles lept up in the air to jab his beak at Zubat, but it just flapped its wings and flew higher than Bubbles could reach. It hit me that maybe a physical attack wasn't the best idea.

I shook my head. "Bubbles, use Bubble!"

"Zubat, use Leech Life! Let 'em have it!"

Bubbles tried to attack first, but Zubat was still too quick. Zubat latched onto Bubble's shoulder, burying its teeth into the skin and sucking. Bubbles howled in pain.

I heard Dee and Aaron each take out pokeballs, but my stupid pride kicked in and I yelped, "No! We can do this! Bubbles, shake him off! I _know_ you can!"

As Bubbles flailed his wings and tried to knock off Zubat, it took up far too much energy. He started to stagger around, getting weaker...

"Finish it off, Zubat! Show no mercy to this stupid brat!"

That must have been when Drew came in. I heard a gasp behind me.

"Bubbles! Michelle!" I heard him scramble behind me for a pokeball. "Pixel! Quick! Use Faint Attack, save Bubbles!"

I felt the air swirl as Drew threw it over my shoulder, and his Vulpix, Pixel, emerged. She snuck up behind Bubbles and Zubat, then grabbed Zubat's small body with her teeth and tore it away.

"Vuuuulpix!" She was mad to see her new friend in danger. Bubbles toddled for a second before falling over, and I rushed to scoop him up in my arms.

A strong hand on my upper arm pulled me back after I retrieved Bubbles. I fell back on my butt, curling my body around Bubbles to protect him.

"Yeowch!" I cried out.

The hand to pull me back was Dee's. She marched up to the Zubat's trainer, pushing her down to the ground like a schoolyard bully. Her ears and face were red in absolute fury.

"**_How dare you?!_**" Dee roared at them with the ferocity of a tiger. She stamped her size ten hiking boot square center in the grunt's chest, knocking the wind out of her. "First off you and your _clown friends_ here laugh at this poor soul challenging you to her first pokemon battle, then you don't even give her and her Piplup a chance! _What kind of sick, immoral, sociopathing dickwads are you?! Do you have no sense of personal integrity?! **You [expletive deleted] make me SICK!**_"

The others started to try and run off to the next floor, but Dee grabbed them by the collars and pulled them to the ground by the necks.

"_And you sorry sons of bitches!_" She thundered. "_All three of you are going to let us pass to the top floor, **unscathed, **__or so help me God-_don't think I don't see you reaching for a pokeball!" She stamped her other foot on the elbow of one of the other grunts, who dropped his pokeball. "You think you could take me in a battle?! You think **_YOU_** are advanced trainers?! I don't need a single _second_ to tell you I can fight _whatever_ you throw at me with my **_bare fists!_** We are _going_ to save that little girl you kidnapped, so help me**_ God_**, if I have kick the ass of every _teal-dyed, bowl-cut, conformist mother[expletive deleted]_ in this _whole damn place!_ Go tell your little friends on the lower floors that this_ hostile takeover_ is about to be _hostilely_ **_destroyed!_**"

After that long-winded rant, I watched Deadra Thompson pant for air, face even redder than before from lack of oxygen as she verbally abused the poor grunts. I believe the one whose elbow she stood on actually began to cry.

Dee backed off of the two of them, and they stood up along with their friend, scrambling off to the floor below us. Dee clapped her hands together, dusting them off.

"Oh, my God," Natalie's cousin, Carlisle, muttered under his breath. "Ho-oh-oly shit."

After the initial shock passed, Aaron laughed and clapped his hands.

"Allllright, there's our favorite war goddess!" He praised her. Dee high-fived him, but walked directly past him, to me.

"Ohmygosh, Mitchie, sweetie, did I hurt you?" She pulled me into a sitting position. "I'm so sorry, Mitchie...I couldn't stand seeing those assholes being so mean to you."

"Are you and Bubbles alright?" Drew hovered over me, picking me up from under the arms and standing me up. "I can't _believe_ you guys waited so long to intervene...useless adults.."

Dee took offense to that statement, grabbing a fistful of short hair from the back of his head and yanking him away from me.

"Yowww-oww-oww! Easy, easy, Simba!"

"Who gave you permission to lay hands on my baby, boy?" Dee growled. "Did you just terrorize a bunch of terrorists? Huh? Did you?" She let go, wiping her fingers off.

Drew backed away from Dee as if she were dangerous. "_You're _the [expletive deleted] terrorist!" Drew shrieked, in pain. He rubbed the back of his head. "Jesus Christ, lady!"

We all laughed at the two of them, then headed up to the fourth floor of the building.

I could hear Astro, very softly, mutter, "Oh, but when the actual _pokemon_ wants to use violence, it's 'destructive' and 'does more harm than good'...frickin' Wilkerson logic, swear to God..."


	15. VS Galactic Leader Mars

_Dan._

After those two dorks _[__Hey!]_ quit bickering, we went up to the last floor, where Katie had to be. I was a little jittery on the inside.

"Hey...uh, Dan?" Carlisle was even more nervous, though. His hands were shaky and his palms looked clammy.

I glanced at him, nodding. I wasn't sure if he'd be offended or not by me not speaking to him.

The two of us were on a hallway on the top floor, because everybody split up to look for Katie. Me and Carlisle were searching one part; Drew and Nattie another; and Aaron, Dee, Astro, and Michelle another part.

Carlisle bit his lip, averting my eyes. "Your, um, your brother...he doesn't like Katie much, does he? But he was more into trying to save her than the other two. Why is that?"

I shrugged. I knew the answer(because Drew's_ not_ the piece of shit people make him out to be), but I didn't know him well enough to feel comfortable saying stuff like that.

I tried a door, and it was locked. I scrunched my nose and silently cursed. I probably should've expected exactly that.

"Guys! Guys, I found the main office!" That was Drew's voice. I instantly perked up, trying to figure where it came from.

"That way!" Carlisle tugged on my arm, leading me in the right direction. I followed behind him, following Drew's excited cries.

When we found him, Drew and Aaron were working together to knock down the door by ramming their shoulders into the door. It wasn't the same wood as the other doors in the building; the main office doors were double doors, made of some kind of better-quality wood. Even together, the wiry gym leader and my athlete brother couldn't knock it down.

"Augh...it's bolted shut!" Drew groaned. His pale face was almost red.

"Dammit!" Aaron swore, practically shouting it. He stepped back, rubbing his shoulder. "The damn thing must be reinforced or something!"

Astro shoved Drew and Aaron aside, pushing hard enough to knock Drew back on his butt. Drew scrambled back to his feet, grumbling unhappily.

"Out of my way, sissies!" Astro hollered. "Here's how it's done!"

He brought his paws together in front of him, wrist to wrist, and they glowed blue as he charged up an attack. Shouting, he released a shining, swirling blue sphere, hitting between the doors and exploding. The doors were blown away, hardly even splintering as they flew into the room.

_Good God, that's...really skilled..._ It astounded me to see that Lucario in action. I could hardly imagine such a sweet girl like Amber taming that kind of power.

There was a scream from inside as Astro tore down the doors. I vaguely recognized it as Katie's.

Inside the office, there was a red-haired woman in the Galactic uniform standing behind a big wooden desk, with Katie tied up in the chair behind the desk. Her arms were tied behind her back, with her back tied to the chair, and I could see the head of a white pokemon sticking up from her lap.

"**_KATIE!_**" Before we could stop him, Carlisle shot into the open office. Aaron grabbed him from under the arms, struggling to hold him back. "_Katie! Are you alright?!"_

Katie sat there in the chair, rigid. Her brown eyes shimmered in fright on seeing her brother.

"...What are you doing here?" Katie's voice came soft and clear. "Carlisle! Get out! Run!"

The Galactic team member, probably some sort of leader, smacked Katie on the side of the head.

"Who let you kids in here?!" She demanded. "Get out or be _forced _out! Purugly, attack!"

"_Don't you dare hurt her!_" Tears clung at the corners of his eyes. "I'm not leaving this building without my big sister!" Carlisle growled out at her, writhing against Aaron's iron grip. "_Let go of me!_"

A large, gray and white cat-like pokemon prowled out from behind the desk. She leaned back on her haunches, then with a growl, she lept out at Carlisle.

"**_Mrrrreeeoooowww!_**"

"Enough of that!"

Astro held out his paw, the hanging black sensors on the sides of his head lifting. He closed his eyes, and they lifted higher. Purugly, outlined in Astro's same sky blue aura, was held in midair. Astro open his eyes, and they were glowing the same shade of blue.

"All we want is the girl," Astro told the woman in a calm, level voice, "and for you to end this hostile takeover. Not a very hard request, huh?"

Purugly wriggled its ugly little body in the air, held up by Astro's psychic power. The leader woman curled her lip in distain.

"Purugly, use Hyper Voice!" She snarled out, glaring at Astro. "Put him in his place!"

Purugly reared back her head, and let out a tortured wail loud enough to put a Whismur to shame. I could see the sound waves vibrating around the room, it was so intense. I had to cover my ears, as did everyone else.

As they reached Astro, it was too much for him. He cluched his head in pain, having heard the shriek, his concentration lost. Purugly landed back on the ground, prepared to attack.

The leader woman made some kind of command, and Purugly slashed her claws at Astro. She slashed him, rapid fire, in anger. Astro tried to shake her off, but I could see he wasn't very strong when things became physical. Purugly finished the onslaught by headbutting Astro, and he stumbled backwards, falling.

"Azzy!" Astro retreated back to us, and Michelle was the one to be worried. He half-leaned on her, closing his eyes and clutching at the spike on his chest. She looked heartbroken to see him hurt.

It brought out a fire in Dee, too. While the Galactic leader lady gloated over beating Astro, Dee snarled and threw out a pokemon.

"This is for Astro, you snickering bitch!" Dee cried out. "Glaceon, use Ice Shard!"

A pale blue, eeveelution-looking pokemon came out from Dee's pokemon. It opened its mouth, and spat out chunks of ice at Purugly. Purugly winced and braced its body for them, but wasn't affected much otherwise.

While the two women spat out orders to their pokemon, I eyed Katie. She was at the far side of the room, while the woman guarding her was closer to the middle of the room...

_In all this confusion...if I could sneak over there..._ I was shit with knots, but Ducky could slash the ropes open easily with his stalk. If I could get over ther fast enough...

The woman sent out another pokemon, and Aaron joined the fight. Drew was holding Michelle and Nattie back from getting hurt. The whole room was loud and chaotic. The perfect opportunity.

Digging my fingernails into my palms, I broke off in a sprint and, avoiding the battlefield of the room's center, dashed behind the large desk Katie was sat behind. I plucked Ducky's pokeball, throwing into the air with my heartbeat skipping as I realized how stupid of an idea this was.

Licking my lips, I hooked my pinkies into my mouth as Ducky came out, and let loose a whistle loud enough and sharp enough to pierce through all the clamor in the office. It drew everyone's attention to me, but that whistle was what we would use on the ranch to ask Ducky to cut down dead trees or bushes.

Drew's breath caught in his throat as he saw me all the way across the room. "Dan...! What're you doing?!"

"Danny?!" Katie hadn't noticed me, either, somehow.

Ducky pulled back his wing, holding his stalk, and he slashed at the ropes binding Katie to the seat. They fell away at his attack, and she stood up for the first time in probably a while. Her wrists were still tied, but we could untie those later. The white pokemon in her lap, a Togetic, sprung up into the air and flitted on its wings.

"_Dan, look out!_"

Before I could bask in the glory of my successful plan, almost a hundred pounds of solid furry muscle slammed me into the wall behind me in a full bull-rush, completely knocking the breath out of me. I felt a sharp pain in my left cheek, likely a slash from her claws, and cried out.

"Faaarfetch'd!" Ducky smacked Purugly off of me before she could do any further damage. Purugly was finally spent from battling so many pokemon, and collapsed to the floor. Panicked, the red headed leader returned Purugly. Her other pokemon, a Golbat, had been decimated.

Things beyond that were a bit fuzzy. I suppose I smacked my head when hitting that wall, because the back of my skull felt practically split open. But that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

The leader made a rather messy getaway through the window(to be cliched, there was probably a helicoper outside for her), leaving all of us. Most everyone went to Katie, and she scolded Carlisle for not running like she ordered, but Drew wasn't concerned with them. He sprinted right to me, completely ignoring them.

"Dan! D-Dan, y-you hear me, right?" His voice sounded a little distant, but the panic was loud and clear. My head thudded painfully, my cheek throbbing as it bled. "_Dan!_"

I nodded weakly, offering a small, thin-lipped smile. I hated to be treated like a little kid by him, especially since we were the same age...

"Y-you're bleeding, dude...Dan, ar-are you listening?" Drew shook his head. "Sh-shit, why did you have to go and do that, Dan? You didn't...you didn't even think, you idiot..."

Drew got me to stand up, albeit pretty wobbly, and supported me as we all started to leave the building. The area right under my ribcage felt painfully bruised, right around where Purugly had attack me. Ducky marched along happily at my heels, pumping his stalk in the air like a drum major and warbling obliviously happliy at a job well done. God, I love that chipper little duck.


	16. Worrisome

_Natalie._

After Dan was attacked by Purugly, Drew was pissed enough to join the battle. He sent out his Vulpix, and combined with Aaron and Dee's Leafeon and Glaceon, easily overpowered the red-haired woman's pokemon. She muttered something into an earpiece she wore, and we heard a helicopter outside the window on the far side of the room.

She threw an empty pokeball at the window to break the glass, then returned her own pokemon to their pokeballs and jumped to the helicopter.

"No!" Aaron and Dee were more concerned with her getting away, but Carlisle and I were more worried about Katie. We all know who Drew concerned himself with(I'd be worried if he didn't go immediately to Dan).

Carlisle broke into a sprint towards his sister, and she met him in the middle of the room. Katie wrapped her arms around her little brother, letting out small, shuddery breaths.

"You idiot...!" She muttered, eyes watering. "You [expletive deleted]ing idiot...I told you, leave the building and get Daddy! You got hurt, you freaking...God..."

"You were in trouble, stupid!" Carlisle fought back. "He could've never...I just ran into Nattie, she...her friends..."

To be honest, I was so glad we all got out of it mostly okay. Except...

_That cut on Dan's cheek...it looks awfully bad..._ Drew rushed Dan out as fast as he could, to bring his brother to Nurse Joy, and I don't blame him.

"Guys, c'mon, let's go ahead and leave," I suggested. "We can, uh, we can talk about all this at the Pokemon Center."

_Outside the Poketch Company Building._

_Five Minutes Later._

Waiting outside were Katie and Carlisle's father, the owner of the company, several employees of the company, and multiple police officers arresting scattered Team Galactic members. An Officer Jenny was talking to Uncle Roy as we exited the building.

"Daddy!" Katie ran right to her father, grabbing him from behind in a big hug. He stiffened in surprise, before registering the voice.

"Katelynn!" Uncle Roy turned around and hugged his daughter, gasping. "Oh my God, you're okay!"

Carlisle ran up to the two of them, and I followed behind. Officer Jenny looked up from her notepad.

"Is this your son?" She asked, nodding to Carlisle.

Carlisle averted her eyes. "Ah...y-yes, ma'am, I'm his son. Carlisle Urmine." Mumbling, he added something under his breath.

Katie elbowed him. "Stop mumbling, Car," She chided him.

Ignoring the two of them, Officer Jenny asked, "And the other girl? I'd like the names of all you kids that were involved."

"I-I'm their cousin," I answered her. "Natalie Oak. Two of my friends, they're not here anymore-one of them, he got hurt, and his brother took him to go see Nurse Joy. He got cut on his cheek, pretty bad."

Katie gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God-it was that bad?" She looked pale as a ghost. "I'm so sorry he got hurt becau-"

"What about them, over there?" The officer pointed back over to the building, where Aaron and Astro were trying to explain to the president of the company why Astro found it necessary to blow down the doors like a maniac. Dee stood behind Aaron, her face buried in the palm of her hand while she shook her head, and Michelle watched, dumbfounded. "Does that Lucario belong to either of the adults?"

"Umm...yes and no. It's kind of hard to explain, he's not-why don't I bring them over here?"

"That'd probably be better."

I tore Aaron away from whatever pressing legal charges he was trying to avoid, along with Dee and Astro. They probably needed to explain what the hell Astro was doing there, exactly.

"I got a call just the other day about a missing Lucario from Twinleaf Town," Officer Jenny told Aaron and Dee sternly. "Lucario aren't exactly the most common pokemon you see in this part of the region, so is this the pokemon we've been looking for?"

Dee sighed deeply. "I'm afraid so, ma'am," She answered. "I promise, this isn't as bad as it looks-his trainer, she's my best friend, Amberlynn Daniels, and Astro here's been itching to get in on some battling action. When our little brothers-they're 14-when they left Twinleaf to deliver me some stuff, he snuck out and came along with them. He only got to us a couple hours ago-I _swear,_ it's the first thing on my list to tell Amber what her own personal idiot's gone and done!"

"Hey, that's hurtful!" Astro pouted. "Don't call me an idiot, I didn't even do anything that bad?"

"You think blatant destruction of property and running away from home isn't that bad?!" Aaron shrieked. "These kids are minors, so they could get off easy, but me and Dee were in charge of you! I have a _family_ back home I gotta feed!"

"Well, that's not my problem, twinkletoes! If it's so important, why don't you go ba-?!"

"_Boys, enough!_" Officer Jenny scared them into stopping the argument. "I was only getting the facts on who this pokemon belongs to! The Poketch Company President already decided not to press charges, so all of your bickering is completely pointless!"

I couldn't see the look she was giving Aaron, but he looked ready to piss himself. He quietly gave his name and relation to us(none), and Dee and Michelle did the same.

Officer Jenny asked for the twins' information, then had a few more questions for Katie and decided they had to move on to interrogating the Team Galactic members. The police force moved out, and we all decided to move on back to the Pokemon Center. Dee _had_ to call Amber.

"Wait! Nattie! You guys!"

Just as we hit the street and started to walk back, Katie left her dad and her brother, and came running after us. She grabbed me by the hands, panting.

"What's wrong, Katie?" I asked.

"Daddy told me I can take you guys out for dinner!" Katie squealed. "C'mon, it's the least I can do, after what you did today!"

_Drew._

I rushed Dan out of that evil hellscape as quickly as I could, and we left the building before anyone else so I could get Nurse Joy to look at him.

Authorities were already at the site, but I had no time to waste. My big brother mode was activated; besides my fragile mess of a brother(_Drew!_), we had a nine year old sister at home who got scrapes and bruises all the time. I was basically constantly on edge for one or the other to get hurt.

I sped up to a jog as we got to the sidewalk, my worry and anger sort of outweighing my decent judgement. Dan could hardly keep up; I'm fairly sure I would have dragged him along if he had tripped. I just felt the intense need to get him to any medical person.

I'm not crazy, I swear to it.

When we finally got to the Pokemon Center(it took five or ten minutes, _tops_), I wasted no time in locating Nurse Joy. I brought Dan over to her.

"N-N-Nurse Joy!" I rasped, half out of breath. "M-my brother, he...he's hurt!"

Nurse Joy turned to see what the fuss was, and stopped. On seeing Dan, her blue eyes got very wide and she looked very pale.

"...Oh, my." I looked at Dan for the first time since we left the others, and saw what was so upsetting. "What happened to him?"

The cut on Dan's cheek was bigger than I had thought, and it was still bleeding. Probably from me dragging him along, there was blood smeared on his face, almost to his ear. It was like looking at a toned down horror movie victim. I wanted to throw up.

Dan didn't show any sign on pain, though, which was scarier. He stared straight forward as Nurse Joy looked at his cut, like nothing was even happening. It was...disturbing, to say the least. He might have still been in a bit of a daze, because I had heard his head hit the wall, but I was startled nontheless.

"Follow me, boys," Nurse Joy finally decided. "It probably doesn't need stitches, but an open cut like this should be disinfected and covered. How did it happen?"

We followed her to a hall of rooms in the back of the center, and I explained, "We were trying to save a girl. She'd been kidnapped, and the lady had a Purugly...Dan got hurt, but it would've been worse if his Farfetch'd hadn't been out with him."

Nurse Joy took us into a room, and had Dan sit on a table. She got a bottle of antiseptic, and a Chansey waddled in, carrying bandages.

"Chanseee!" She chirruped, handing them to Nurse Joy.

Dan clenched his fists and whimpered as she dabbed on the antiseptic, and I could see that it hurt. His bottom lip was clenched tight between his teeth.

After that was done and the cut was clean, Nurse Joy picked a bandage big enough to cover the cut, and she pressed it onto his cheek. She smiled.

"See? I'm all finished." She gathered up the bandages next to Dan. "Chansey, you can let Dan here have a bite of your egg."

Chansey plucked the egg out of her belly pocket as Nurse Joy left the room, presenting it to Dan. "Chaann!"

For the first time in a while, Dan showed a visible reaction to anything. He shook his head violently as he jumped from the table, lips pursed in a solid line.

"It's perfectly safe to eat, Dan," I laughed. "Chansey eggs are supposed to be incredibly nutritious. Very good to help with injuries and ailments. Try it."

Dan rolled his eyes at my coaxing, and with a fake smile, accepted the egg from her. He took a bite of the egg, and it seemed like it was made similar to a hard boiled egg. Dan made a face as he chewed and swallowed, shuddering.

"Not so good?" I asked.

Dan shook his head, giving the egg back. He mouthed something. _Too bitter,_ I think it was.

By then, the others had gotten back and were in the lobby. I could hear Dee talking on what I assumed was her Pokegear. I nudged Dan's arm, and we went out to go meet them.


	17. Pre-Contest Prep

_Natalie._

_The Next Afternoon._

"Nattie, um, y'know...Grandpa Sam, he's been so worried. About you."

The next day, Katie and Carlisle insisted on taking me out to lunch. Drew and Dan went off on their own, so it was just the three of us. My uncle also took the liberty of buying a Poketch for every one of us who had been there to help save Katie, which made Drew so happy.

Katie brought up Grampa the moment we sat down at some resturant at a street corner, which pissed me off. We were gonna have a nice lunch, did she really have to bring him up?

I wished the resturant had more people in there. At least then, they wouldn't have started up the subject.

"Do you really have to..." I sighed in disgust. "Do we really have to talk about that? I don't want to."

"Nattie, please, listen!" Carlisle pleaded in a hushed whisper. "Everyone in the family is still hurting from Gary's death, _especially _Grandpa!" He always gets more worked up than his sister.

Katie nodded at me from across the table. "Yeah..." She added. "He called Mom the day you left Pallet Town, and she just...she was crying. She couldn't imagine Carlisle doing something like you did, especially the way you were yelling at him."

_Of course you wouldn't,_ I thought, irritated. _Carlisle's nothing but a goody two shoes..._ I didn't mean it, which is why I stopped myself from saying it.

"We just wanna...wanna ask you to call him," Carlisle asked of me. "Don't shut him out because of an argument. It's childish, and selfish!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, calling me childish?" I growled at him. "You're the same age as me! And _you_ were the one crying and screaming all over the sidewalk yesterday!"

Color drained from his face as I reminded him of the situation, and he looked like I had sucker punched him in the gut. Katie pursed her lips and glared at me.

"Don't snap at him," She ordered in a calm tone. "Nattie, I know you're still sore at Grandpa, but...but when a family like ours loses a guy like Gary, isn't it selfish to cut yourself off like you are? When your sister and grandfather are already hurting?"

She didn't look angry or irritated. Her eyes bore down on me sincerely. The tight knot in my throat almost stopped me from answering.

"You don't think I'm still upset, and hurt, and all that, too?" I snapped at her. "Besides, I don't...I don't even think Gary's dead, Katie."

They both looked at me like I was stupid. Carlisle cleared his throat and asked, "Excuse me?"

"I'm serious," I insisted. "You guys remember that letter that Aaron Wilkerson sent me a while back, don't you?"

"I remember how much it was dripping with bullshit," Katie countered.

"_That_ was Aaron?" Carlisle asked in amazement. "The guy with the Leafeon and the bleach blonde hair? Damn, son."

Before we could continue talking, a waitress finally came up. "Good afternoon, you guys! Are you ready to order?"

Finally, they could stop tearing into me. Katie plastered on a fake grin, and answered, "Yes, ma'am. Nattie, Car, you guys first, I'll glance at the menu again..."

_Michelle._

_At the Pokemon Center._

"Dee! Is that makeup? Amber tells me I can't wear makeup!"

Dee snickered at my protest. "Please, Mitchie, the two of us wore makeup in _our_ first contest," She told me. "If Amb gets mad, you have full permission to blame me."

I was going to be performing in my first contest that night, so Dee, Drew, Astro, and Aaron were helping me prepare in the room I'd shared with Dee and Natalie. Drew had never even seen a contest, but he let Aaron use his laptop to look up different ways to style my hair. I sat patiently in a chair put in the middle of the room.

"So, what, first you gotta make the judges like you, then you gotta prove your pokemon look good in battle?" Drew asked. He was laid out on Natalie's bed.

I nodded. "M'hm," I answered. "I've watched old tapes of Amber's contests that our mom had recorded. Astro was really good!"

Dee laughed, still digging in her makeup back. "And a real showoff," She snickered. "You used to battle 'til you passed out, didn't you, Azzy?"

"Shut up!" Astro barked. "You don't even understand the struggle, you shrew!"

Amber told me once that Astro used to be real sick. Not the way you usually imagine being sick, but he was always very tired and cranky before he evolved. Of course, I know a lot more about it now than I did before, but she wasn't wrong when she told me that. I could see the strain and effort it took for almost every attack he made.

"You're not gonna put that gunk on my face, are you?" Dee was squirting what looked like thin lotion into her palm. It was the color of skin.

She nodded. "It's called base. It's supposed to even your skin tone, although you haven't gone through puberty, so I guess there's no zits to cover up quite yet."

Dee dipped her index finger in the goop, and then smeared some on my cheek. Then the other cheek, and my nose. She smeared it until she thought there was enough, and she rubbed it all into my skin for good measure. It was cold, and it felt weird.

"You need a second pokemon, don't you?" Drew asked. "Since there's two rounds?"

"I was gonna let her borrow my Glalie. Or maybe my Glaceon." Dee didn't even let me answer.

Drew frowned. "Well, she can borrow my Vulpix, is what I'm sayin'," He told her. "I mean, a Vulpix would look better with a Piplup than a Glalie or a Glaceon would, wouldn't it?"

Sitting at Dee's bed, on the laptop, Aaron chimed in, "He has a point there, Ice Queen."

"Shut your mouth, you bottle blonde jackass!"

Drew, on the bed, snickered at Dee's comeback. It wasn't that good, compared to what she could normally come up with, but he seemed to think it was funny.

He was kinda mean to Aaron and Dee a lot of the time, but I liked Drew. He wasn't as bad as Dee thought he was, especially while he was apart from his brother. Not always glancing at Dan, like he was scared he'd disappear.

"Keep your eyes open, Mitchie, or I might poke you." Dee decided not to put eye shadow on me, and went right for mascara. I kept my eyes wide open, and she gently applied the makeup to my eyelashes.

It didn't take her long to do my makeup; all she did after mascara was some blush and some lipstick. It didn't seem too hard.

"Wilkerson, find anything to do with her hair yet?" Dee asked impatiently. Aaron didn't answer, and she growled out, "_Aaron!_"

"I'm not sure how well I can do it, but I might be able to braid some different pigtails on her," Aaron finally answered, closing the laptop. "Astro, might need a little help, since I'm rusty. You mind?"

"Not at all, Aar, not at all." Astro was just sitting on the floor, waiting.

Carefully, Aaron took my normal pigtails out and brushed out the hair. My hair went almost all the way down to my back, which I was really proud of. It was a soft shade of blue and could go straight down my spine, nothing like Amber's curly red hair.

"I think you're gonna grow up to be a pretty kid, Mitchie," Aaron muttered absentmindedly. "Just like your sister...damn, it must be the water in Twinleaf Town..."

"Just get on it, Peter Pan, before she actually starts to grow up."

Aaron had light, thin hands that threaded easily through my hair, nothing like Astro's stubby paws. Feminine, I think, is what Amber called them once. Aaron quickly brushed out my hair, and divided it into sections.

"Ah, shit..." Aaron cursed. "Drew, log into that computer and read me the instructions! I think I already messed up!"

Dee snickered. "For someone who loves his little sister, you suck at braiding."

"I really hate you, Thompson. I _said_, I'm out of practice!"

The time getting ready for my first contest was a really fun time. I couldn't wait until it actually started that night.


	18. Nerves

_Maggie._

_That Night._

I'll never forget the night I met little Michelle;because, honestly, nobody can forget a little girl with bright blue hair.

All of the coordinators waiting to make appeals were waiting in the back waiting room, and I spotted her sitting alone in a chair, wearing a cute little pink dress. I could tell by her-wide eyed, fearful expression that this had to be her first contest, and she had definitely just left home. She clutched a Piplup in her lap like it was her lifeline.

Seeing her sitting there took me back to my first contest. My big brother had let me borrow his Nuzleaf and Lotad, and I used them in a contest in Slateport City. The rush I'd gotten from performing and competing was what made me decide I was gonna dedicate myself to contests.

Everyone else waiting in there was talking and joking with each other, getting friendly, but she just sat there by herself, muttering to her Piplup. It broke my little heart.

Cracking my knuckles, I walked over to where that little girl sat, and I sat in the chair next to her.

"Hey," I greeted her. "Are you nervous?"

She looked up at me like a Stantler in the headlights when I spoke. "Huh? Who're you?"

I grinned wide, wide enough to close my eyes. "My name's Maggie. Who're you?"

It took her a second to realize I was teasing, but she laughed when she did. "Michelle," She answered, face a little flushed. "My family likes to call me Mitchie."

I snickered, but not in a mean way. "That your starter, Michelle?" I pointed at her Piplup.

Michelle nodded eagerly, braided pigtails bouncing off her back. "Uh-huh!" She answered. "His name's Bubbles! Bubbles is the cutest little Piplup in the whole wide world!"

"What other pokemon do you have?" I rubbed the soft down on Bubbles' head, and he was okay with that.

"Just Bubbles," Michelle admitted. "I'm borrowing a friend's pokemon for the appeals round. I really hope I make it to the battles. Bubbles is so excited! Aren't you?"

The little bird wriggled in her lap, squeaking out, "Pip lupp pip!"

We talked for a little while, waiting for our own appeals. Michelle told me about her big sister, who used to be a coordinator, and I told her about my big brother and sister, how Mark went through training to be an emergency doctor and Janey works with our mom in the Slateport Pokemon Center.

Finally, 15 minutes later, my name came up on the moniter. That meant I was the next to go make my appeal. I left Michelle in the waiting room, with my combinations already figured out.

_Michelle._

Maggie's appeal was completely unforgettable! I still remember it so easily!

As Maggie ran out to the contest field, the announcer lady called out, "Say hello to the Queen of Mean from Slateport Beach! The princess of the open seas! Give it up for Meaghan Lowe-Joy!"

She really looked pretty, in a tropical way. Maggie wore a green tank top with a leaf emblem, and cut off jean shorts. With her tan skin and orange hair, it looked really good.

Maggie swung her arm in a circle, throwing a pokeball into the air. "Lombre! Let's make it look good!"

A green pokemon with what looked like a lilypad on its head came out, and as he landed on the ground, Maggie took out a round, gray disk from her back pocket. She pressed a button with her thumb, and it grew into a three-foot surfboard.

"Just what is Meaghan doing?" The announcer wondered out loud.

Maggie hooked her ankle to the surfboard, and Lowbre climbed onto the end of it. Maggie stood on the opposite end. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, then exhaled and shouted.

_"Lombre, use Surf!"_

Lombre raised his arms in the air, glowing bright blue. Water slowly rose up from the ground around them, gaining speed until Maggie was balanced on a giant tidal wave!

Maggie called out directions, and Lombre steered the wave in the directions she indicated. She kept them both steady on the surfboard, steering like she was a surfing champion.

_Oh my God, how am I possibly gonna come close to anything like this?_

Maggie and Lombre only did that for about thirty seconds, I think. After that, she had Lombre ease the wave back down, leaving nothing but a puddle. Maggie collected her surfboard, making it collapse back into a circle, and returned Lombre to his pokeball. She kissed the button of the pokeball, smiling confidently.

She turned towards the three astonished judges, and bowed low to the ground. "Thank you, for your consideration."

The audience went absolutely hysterical! It was unbelievable! I had never seen an appeal like it, not even from Dee or Amber!

_Kenta Landry._

_Ten Minutes Later, in the Sandgem Pokemon Center._

"Oh, wow...Kent, check this out."

We finally made it to Sandgem Town, after wandering for a few days. It was rather embarrassing, because I knew neither me nor Col were inexperienced travelers.

Col called me over to the TV in the sitting area of the Pokemon Center. It was about seven at night. There was a contest on the TV that night, live from Jubilife City, our next stop.

On the TV, I saw a ten year old girl with blue braids in a frilly pink dress make her appeal with a Vulpix. Her voice shook and her palms were sweaty, so I assumed it was her first contest.

"P-Pixel! Use Sunny Day!" The Vulpix obeyed her without question, glowing bright yellow. The lights in the contest hall intensified on the TV screen, and it must have been rather hot.

The reason Col called me over was that the girl looked rather familiar. She had a small nose, with pale skin and heavy freckles, and was built slim, but tall for her age...

_Amber! _"That's Amber Daniels' little sister!" I gasped. The hair and eyes were different, but the family resemblence was just too striking. I couldn't deny it.

Col snorted. "It took you long enough."

As Michelle continued, having Pixel use Overheat, I pulled out my notepad and began writing down what Michelle looked like, among other characteristics.

_**Michelle Daniels**_

_**age: 10?**_

_**-blue hair**_

_**-blue eyes**_

_**-possibly wears a lot of pink**_

_**-owns a Vulpix**_

_Damn it all, I need Ryan..._ Normally, when I would go out of my home region, I would bring along my friend Ryan Vail. He's the type to always carry around a digital camera. But, Ryan had a few family issues he needed to sort out, so I was stuck.

"Are we going to be looking for that girl?" Col asked flatly.

I nodded. "We don't have much of a choice," I admitted. "The only contact I've had with Aaron was by email, and I don't see him the type to carry a laptop. Professor Rowan told us he was with Amber's little sister Michelle, so we just have to go off of that for now. It's not much, but enough."

Col narrowed his eyes at me. "If you hadn't have slammed the door in that girl's face-"

"I was in a hurry, so I took what I needed and left." Many people say I'm a bit rash when I travel, but I disagree.

Not wanting to waste a second, Col and I packed our things and, after getting proper directions from Nurse Joy, we headed on our way to Jubilife City.

We didn't even bother to stay in Sandgem for a night.


	19. VS Treecko

_Michelle._

_Back at the Contest, During the Battle Round._

"Finish 'im off, Bubbles! Use Bubble!"

Bubbles spat out a stream of bubbles at our opponent's Geodude, finally beating it. Our five minute time limit was down to 30 seconds left, and I was starting to break a sweat.

After our first battle, against Team Galactic, Bubbles had been a little down. But he was on fire during the contest! He was ready to prove he was tough!

Geodude fell over, defeated. The crowd went nuts. cheering for me and Bubbles. I felt so proud of my little Piplup! He was doing so _well._

That was the end of our second battle. There was only one more battle left in the contest, and I had made it, to the final round!

"Oh my goodness!" Miss Marian exclaimed into her mic. "Newcomer Michelle Daniels has managed to make it to the final battle round, against veteran Meaghan Lowe!"

_Maggie?!_ I had been so excited about my own wins, I hadn't even noticed Maggie. And after seeing her incredible surfing appeal...

_No! I won't be scared. Bubbles can do it. _ I didn't really believe Bubbles could win, but he could sure try.

Maggie came out onto the battlefield, that confident gleam still in her green eyes. They shone out against her dark skin.

"And here she is, ready to take on Michelle!"

Marian's commentary made me so nervous. Bubbles stood on the field, wings spread and feet apart.

"Pip lupp!" He squeaked. "Pip pip lupp!"

Maggie laughed at Bubbles' declaration, pulling a pokeball from her pocket. "Treecko! Let's go!"

A small, green, gecko pokemon with a red belly came out, glaring down Bubbles. "Treeck!"

_Is that a grass type?_ I wondered. _I bet Aaron's excited._

_{Excuse me, Dee here. Just wanna interrupt to say that Aaron was crazy 'excited'...weirdo.}_

_{{You pervert! Deadra!}}_

Umm...anyway, I went on the assumption that Treecko was a grass-type.

"And...start the battle!"

"Treecko, leer at Piplup, and scare it!" Maggie balled her hand in a fist, and rested it on her hip. "Intimidation, baby!"

Treecko got on all fours, and reared back, glaring down Bubbles. His confidence disappeared in a quick second, leaving him frozen in spot.

I shook my head. "Bubbles, snap out of it!"

"Treecko, snap him out of it with a Pound attack!" Maggie cracked a grin. I didn't like the looks of it.

Still reared back, Treecko dashed out at Bubbles, raising to his hind legs while running. He punched Bubbles with his tiny fists, launching him in the air and slapping Bubbles back down to the ground with his tail. It looked brutal.

"Just watch Treecko go to town on poor little Bubbles!" Marian cried out into her mic. "Can Michelle recover from the shock and fear of his strength?"

"I'm not scared of him!" I growled out. "Neither is Bubbles! Bubbles, _get up, _and use Pound right back!"

Bubbles pulled himself back up to his feet, and charged at Treecko. He didn't have the same speed advantage as the gecko pokemon, but I thought he would have the strength to back up being slow.

"Double Team. He can't land a hit." Treecko raised his arms and cried out, glowing green. Three copies of Treecko circled around Bubbles, who didn't have time to stop his attack.

Bubbles swung his wing at a Treecko, and it evaporated. He had hit an illusion.

"Now, use Pursuit!"

The other two copies disappeared, leaving the one Treecko, who was behind Bubbles. He hopped in the air and spun sharply, smacking Bubbles in the back of the head with his tail each time.

_Dang it!_ "Bubbles, turn around! Use Peck!"

"Finish Bubbles off with Mega Drain, Treecko!"

Treecko clung to Bubbles' back before he could turn around, and glowed green again, humming loudly. Bubbles freaked out, very obviously in pain, squeaking in terror and running around!"

"Bubbles!" I gasped. "Get 'im off! He's absorbing all your energy!"

Maggie grinned cruelly. "That's not so easy, Michelle, because Treeckos have tiny spikes in their paws, to latch onto thing," She explained to me. "But, I don't think you can do anything, anyway."

_The points!_ I had completely ignored my points! There were still two minutes in the battle, and I only had a small sliver of points left, while Maggie still had all of hers. I wanted to die.

My points drained right down to the very last one, and the timer stopped.

"Stop!" Marian instructed. "Michelle's lost all of her points from Treecko's Mega Drain attack! That means that the winner of tonight's contest is Meaghan Lowe!"

Treecko detatched himself from Bubbles, who flopped over on his stomach. I returned Bubbles to his pokeball, wanting to crawl under a Torterra and die. Bubbles must have been so disappointed...

_Carlisle._

_After the Contest._

"Hey, dude, where's Dan? I haven't seen him all day."

"I have no idea. I assumed he just stayed at the Pokemon Center..."

Michelle was so upset walking back to the Pokemon Center, but I thought she had performed rather well for such a greenhorn. Especially with such limited battle experience.

_We go hideawa_

_In daylight..._

Drew, predictably, fretted over Dan. His brother had apparently been missing since that afternoon, and wouldn't answer his Pokegear. I'll admit, it _was_ rather unsettling...

...But, also an easy mystery to solve. When we reached the Pokemon Center, when Dee sent Michelle to go up and get changed before they went to go get dinner, I heard a soft snore from the sitting area, and a brown mop peeking out from an armchair.

_We go undercover_

_When under the sun._

I went over to the chair, and there was Dan. He had his knees to his chest, a blanket thrown over them haphazardly, and his head rested on one arm of the chair. He had big headphones on, still blaring music. Dan didn't so much as move when I approached him. He was dead asleep.

"Hey-Drew! Dan's right here." I moved the headphones off of his ears, and shook Dan's shoulder hard, to wake him up. "Dan? Dan, wake up."

_Got a secret side_

_In plain sight..._

Dan's snoring halted, like a breath caught in his throat. His eyes opened wide, like he was terrified, and I really saw them for the first time.

They say the quietest people have the most expressive features, and that's no kidding. Dan's eyes were a warm brown, like I was sure he had a warm personality, with little gold flecks here and there. You couldn't see anything like that in Drew's eyes; he was cold, like stone.

_Where the streets are empty,_

_That's where we run._

"D-Dan?!" Drew skittered over to Dan, pink and flustered. "Jesus, man! How long have you been there?!"

Dan look down at his blanket-covered knees, obviously confused, and shook his head. He pulled his Pokegear out of his lap and turned the music off, gasping loudly at how many missed calls he had.

"Have you just...been sleeping? Right here?" An armchair must have been awfully uncomfortable to sleep in. Especially if Dan had been missing as long as Drew had claimed...

A little calmed down, Drew took the blanket off of Dan that covered his legs, and threw it to a couch. "Nurse Joy must have put it there," He muttered. He grabbed Dan's arm. "You missed Michelle's big contest. Get upstairs and change your clothes, Dan, you look like a hobo and that's no way to go out to eat."

Dan nodded wildly at Drew's quiet orders, obeying him. He seemed to do that a lot, hardly even needing a polite word.


	20. On the Road Again

_Dan._

_The Next Morning._

"I want to go with you guys. Take me with you through Sinnoh."

The next morning, Carlisle met us at the door of the Pokemon Center with a stuffed backpack, wearing a crisp pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Dee shook her head, groaning.

"Do any of you kids know how to ask for things like actual human beings?" She complained.

We had already split up into groups. I wanted to travel with Dee to Oreburgh City, for my very first gym battle, while Drew was heading to Floaroma Town with Michelle and Nattie was going to go further north with Aaron, to Eterna City. The fact that Dee trusted Michelle with Drew really spoke a lot.

Astro had been sent back the previous to walk himself to Twinleaf Town. Amber sounded real steamed when Dee had spoken to her on the phone that morning. I was surprised they even let him go by himself, after sneaking out in the first place, but I guess he knew the path pretty well.

"Does your, uh, family know you want to head up and leave home?" Aaron asked, fighting back a yawn.

"You don't even live in Sinnoh, Car!" Nattie protested. "Where did you-?"

"My dad said it was okay with him," Carlisle answered with a grin. "Katie, too. I'm fourteen years old, for God's sakes, and more than ready to leave home. Or, at least that hotel room we've been holed up in."

_Holed up in...?_ He had been with us almost the entire time we'd been in the city. _How long have they even been in Sinnoh?_

"Please, you guys, it's all I want!" Carlisle protested as we started to leave him. "Let me go with you!"

"Why can't you just travel alone?" Drew demanded grumpily. "Like you said, you're fourteen years old, for God's sakes."

"Please! Come on, man!"

He followed us as we made it to the center of the city, where we were gonna split up. It was...well, odd. I hardly knew him, and Drew hardly knew him, and Nattie seemed to try and ignore him. Was I missing some kind of unspoken cue?

He fell behind before long, and I assumed he gave up trying to come with us.

"So...Floaroma Town is to the north, and Oreburgh to the east?" Drew asked. He had the map open on his Pokegear, surveying the layout of Sinnoh.

Ponytail bopping at her back, Dee nodded. "Yep," She answered. Looking at the crossroads, she added, "I guess this is where we split up, for now."

"Already?!" Michelle asked. "But we just-we just got to Jubilife!"

"That's the hassle of traveling, kiddo," Aaron admitted. "You can't get attached to one place for too long."

Michelle pouted, sticking out her bottom lip at him. Dee laughed, and pulled Michelle into a hug.

"Gimme a real goodbye hug this time," She ordered. "It's gonna be a bit before I see you. Aaron, Drew, Nattie, you gonna take care of my girl?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Only if you do the same for my brother," Drew warned her, glaring over the rims of his glasses at her.

Dee gave me a once-over, looking over her shoulder. "Dan doesn't seem like a problem child, unless he manages to get lost." She released Michelle from her grip, and the others walked off to the north of the city. Drew waved goodbye over his shoulder, grinning a little when Nattie did the same.

That left me and Dee by ourselves, to start heading east, towards Oreburgh City. I was...a little jittery at the idea of traveling with her, because we hadn't exactly been through much small talk or banter before, like her and my brother. Was it such a good idea to have asked her to help me train?

"So, Dan, I hear this'll be your first gym chal-?"

"_Waaiit!_ Dan!"

Here came Carlisle, coming back at us, panting and running. He obviously had not given up.

Dee raised her eyebrows. "You're...that kid."

"Car...Carlisle." He stopped in front of her, to catch his breath. "I want...I _really_ want to travel with you and Dan, ma'am!"

_Everyday people do_

_Everyday things_

Dee looked a little tired of all his pestering. "Why do you wanna go with us so bad, runt?" She demanded. "Why does everyone always go to _Dee?_ Why do_ I_ have to be the trainer of pokemon trainers?"

I think I could tell what his answer was, before he even said it. The look in his eyes, and the nervous twitch in his brow.

_But I can't_

_be one of them._

"Because you're a strong lady, who's trained her pokemon well," He answered. "I saw you battle, and I looked up your previous contests on Youtube after I heard your name, and I..." Carlisle bit his lip nervously. "I want to get strong, too. For my Sabelye, and my sister. I don't want to be the crybaby of the family any more."

That speech sounded so familiar. It was sort of like the spiel I had given Dee. Carlisle and I were both the crybabies of the family, the ones everyone wanted to protect, or look out for...

_I know you_

_Hear me now_

"It takes more than someone who knows what they're doing to learn to be brave," Dee told him huffily. "What makes you think you can just change who you are like that?"

"Because I say I can," Carlisle argued. "I want to do the things regular teenagers do, teenagers that don't just stay in hotel rooms while their dads are on business trips. I want to be a trainer, and I want to learn from you what that's like, because you're the first I've ever met who's been around and is still traveling! Please!"

_We are a_

_Different kind!_

Carlisle was desperate. His face was turning pink with his frustration as he begged Dee to let him come along with the two of us. He wanted it so, so bad, even without knowing exactly what he would be getting into. He'd even done Youtube research.

"I'm sure Dan knows exactly what I mean! Don't you?" He turned to me, sincerity in his voice.

_We can do_

_Anything..._

Startled, I hesitated before I nodded. I knew more than anyone else I know what it feels like to not want to be helpless anymore, helpless like when Katie was being held hostage...

"Ugh...you damned kids are just too stubborn." Dee rolled her eyes at Carlisle. "I guess if you two are two peas in a pod, I'm outnumbered. Since you've already got your stuff, come on, I guess. We're wasting daylight."

"Really?"

"Did I frickin' stutter? Get the lead out, kid! Oreburgh City isn't getting any closer to us just because you're standing in the damn road!"

Dee already started back on heading east, and I trotted after her, Carlisle at my ankles.

Our morning was already starting out great. I was back to being excited, after being so tired for the past few days, from so much going on.

_Max._

_On Route 204._

"C'mon, Barry, we can't let them get away!"

"I know, Max, I know! Sheesh!"

Barry and I never saw our sisters when we were in Jubilife City; I dropped Astro off with Nurse Joy, and Barry dropped off Dee's things, and we went around the city by ourselves.

When we saw the Galactic helicopter leaving the city, however, it was on right away. I knew their symbol as well as anybody else; we had never left our stuff at the Pokemon Center, because we had no intention of staying the night in Jubilife City, so we left right then to chase after.

I'll admit, it was sort of hard going for a while, after we left the city. Barry and I had been running around all over basically since we could walk, but the landscape of Route 204 was rather treacherous.

I remembered Amber telling us about being attacked by an Onix once in that cave on the route, so Barry and I avoid going inside, instead climbing over the whole area. It was easier to see their helicopter that way, even if it was only a little bit. It wasn't until the morning of Michelle's contest day that we lost it, because the two of us eventually had to stop and rest for the night, but that didn't stop us.

"It's gotta be heading for Floaroma Town!" Barry decided, as we packed up our little camp. "The only other place up that north is Eterna Forest! We gotta go that way, Max!"

"But, what about Eterna City?" I asked. "They're starting to modernize, so I bet you they're gonna go there to steal a bunch of pokemon, since it's been such a popular city."

"Aaron said that Team Galactic's been cornering scientists, though, not just trainers," Barry argued. "Floaroma's got that new windmill energy place, the Windworks, so there's bound to be scientists all over. They'd be stupid not to go there."

We rolled up our sleeping bags, and tied them to our backpacks, considering all of that. It probably would make sense that they would go to the energy place to bully some more scientists, so I guessed that was Barry's first good idea in a while.

We started heading down the rocky path above the trail of caves, getting ready for the long trek ahead to Floaroma Town.

* * *

**AOF: _Heroes(We Could Be) _by Alesso is just my jam. Look it up, if you haven't heard it. A pretty poppy song, but still beautiful, with catchy lyrics.**


	21. One Little Mistake

_Astro._

_On Route 202, the Next Morning._

I'd thought sleeping in a tree for the night would keep me out of sight of travelers, but like most of my plans, it just didn't work out.

I woke up to the feeling of being stared at, something I was rather used to. Whoever they were(there were two of them), they were amazed to see a Lucario, up sleeping in a tree, because apparently that's not a normal thing that normal Lucario do. Once in a lifetime opportunity, one of them thought.

The other one had a Pikachu. He asked it to use Thunderbolt on me. I pulled myself out of my sleep, too little too late.

"Hoe, don't do it-!"

Pikachu shocked me with a strong jolt of electricity, and the attack knocked me off of the branch I had been sleeping on. Electricity burned in my veins as I tumbled to the ground, growling and shouting my protests. I hardly felt the impact from hitting the packed dirt road, but I did end up feeling a little bruised later.

"**_OH MY GOD!_**"

Pikachu's trainer, a raven-haired guy with a sour look on his face, threw a pokeball at me, and naturally, it didn't work. Because I already have a trainer. He caught the pokeball as it bounced back at him, confused. I laid there, twitching with electric paralysis, while he pondered the possibilities of what could have possibly happened. The two of them probably wrote off my scream, thinking their minds were playing tricks or some shit.

"Huh?" He tried throwing the pokeball again, and scowled at me when I still didn't go inside. "That...that's never happened before."

"Maybe it's the pokeball..." His companion, a dirty blonde man with obvious brown roots, suggested as an attempt to help. "Try a different one, Col."

"**_I have a trainer, you idiots!_**" I could hardly move, but I sure as hell could shout. My nerves felt shot as I growled out at them. "You just tried to capture a pokemon who has a **_trainer! _**Did you not even [expletive deleted] consider that?!"

Pikachu growled at me for barking at his trainer like that. Col, his trainer, was astonished to hear me.

"Di...Did that Lucario just tell us he has a trainer?" It's tiring to have to keep in mind, few people are used to me. "Kent?"

"I think you just attacked someone else's Lucario, Col." Kent sounded a little fearful of me, and his aura read the same. "And I think...Pikachu paralyzed him..."

"If you mother[expletive deleted]s don't do something about it in ten seconds..." Paralysis washed over me again like a painful shower, further exacerbating my anger at them. "...W-we are _definitely_ going to have a problem."

Kent and Col took my threat very seriously, and started rifling through their things for a Parlyz Heal.

_{Heh, I remember that...you're rather intimidating on the first meeting, Astro.}_

_Natalie._

"Aaron used to be a really cool gym leader, I've been to his old gym...the girl who runs it now is pretty nice, she even kept it mostly the way he had it before! I think Aaron used to help her train, I dunno why he started doing stuff with the professor...why did you, Aaron, what's up with that?"

Aaron laughed as Michelle droned on and on about him. "By the time I turned twenty, I was just sick of the whole gym leader schtick," He explained to me and Drew. "I stayed with it as long as I did because it was good money."

It was about eleven, and we headed up the rocky path Aaron told us would bring us to Floaroma Town. I'd asked Aaron something about where he was from, and Michelle had started telling us everything she knew about him. It looked like it embarrassed him, just a little, but he never told her to stop.

Drew rolled his eyes and scoffed at Aaron's attitude about it. "Why would you give up a position as a _gym leader?_" He asked. "It sounds to me like that's a pretty good job when you're young."

"Not if you don't have your heart in it," Aaron countered. "Like I said, I was in it mostly for the money. I took the job when Ms. Bertha offered to me when I was your age, but when something I was more interested in came knocking, it was no problem to throw in the towel and turn in my two-week notice."

"You quit being a gym leader, just to be Professor Rowan's assistant?" I asked. "Wow. You must've really hated it."

Aaron shook his head. "No, I just...like I said, had no heart in it."

Something like that, it seemed pretty unthinkable to Drew. He shook his head as he listened to Aaron, and I could hear it in his voice that he was judging him.

"What did you specialize in?" I asked, to change the subject a little. "Grass types, I guess?"

"Ideally, I would have. But with the Eterna Forest nearby, bugs were easier to come by, and my little Leafeon was still an Eevee. But, both grass and bug type pokemon were welcome to take home in the gym while I ran it, including my precious little Paras."

"They have _Paras_ in Sinnoh?" Drew groaned. "Those damn mushrooms on their back, the spores make my throat close up..."

"Yeesh. That's rough." Aaron readjusted the backpack on his back. "Paras are kind of a rough find in Sinnoh, but they've still been spotted every now and then in the mossy Eterna Forest."

Drew groaned wordlessy, rolling his eyes. Drew hated forests, and moss, and everything in between. It was a wonder he ever liked helping out Grampa and Tracey.

Michelle kept on chirping on about Aaron while he laughed and blushed "modestly"(he was eating the shit up, really), and me and Drew kept on bouncing back sass and questions at them, respectively. We were having a nice time on our way to Floaroma Town.

We eventually hit a small line of caves heading up north, which Aaron told us was a sign we were on the right path. As he set down his backpack to pull out the map Dee had given him, a small rumble came from inside the caves.

Aaron's arms and shoulders tensed at the sound. He looked inside the mouth of the cave.

"Kids...please step back away from here." Every word he said was careful and measured. When we were reluctant to back away, Aaron turned his head and barked, "Did I stutter?!"

"It's probably just some pokemon in the cave," I rationalized. "Really, Aaron, there's no reason to-"

"I didn't ask you to tell me what you think it probably is, I asked-!"

Another, louder rumble cut Aaron off, followed by a teenage boy's scream. Aaron immediately jumped up, slinging his backpack back over his shoulder. He hastily pulled out a pokeball, calling out, "Volbeat, use Tail Glow!"

A chubby red bug pokemon came from the pokeball, flitting in the air with tiny wings. Its big, round yellow tail lit up, and Aaron pointed towards the cave.

"Follow me in there, kids," Aaron instructed. "And be quick about it!"

"Aaron, _what_ has you all worked up?" I demanded. "Just tell us, instead of barking orders like that!"

He threw his head over his shoulder as he dashed into the cave, shouting, "I _know_ that shout belonged to Barry! Him and Max are probably in some trouble!"

At the sound of her brother's name, Michelle followed Aaron without a complaint. Lenny jumped down from my arms and ran along side me and Drew as we did our best to keep up.


	22. VS Onix

_Aaron._

_Remember, Wilkerson, remember that you can **not** legally beat up a fourteen year old, no matter the circumstance._

I knew, the moment I heard Barry scream, I knew either him or Max was in trouble. The little frickers. Even when they were ten years old and I was nineteen, they would climb trees too big for them, fall, and get hurt.

Volbeat flitted in front of me in the tunnel, lighting the path. I felt my heart pounding in my throat as I ran, hoping that I was going the right direction, because there were a few small deviations in the path. Silently, I sent out an angry prayer that the idiot was okay. As I continued further inside, I heard the sounds of a confrontation.

I was sort of expecting what I found, but at the same time, it still shocked me.

Barry was wrapped in the tail of an angry Onix, screaming and struggling. Sunlight streamed into the cave from a gaping hole, where I assumed Barry had fallen. Him and Max must have tried to climb over and directly get to Floaroma Town, and found a weak spot in the rocks. I could see Max's sandy head peeking in from above, horrified that there wasn't much he could do.

Anger bubbled in my blood as I sent out Leafeon, furious I was _still_ cleaning up after those brats.

"_Leafeon! Use Leaf Blade, and save Barry!_" Leafeon did a full back flip as she emerged from her pokeball, leafy tail glowing green and solidifying. She struck Onix with a clean blow, and it roared out in pain. I quickly returned Volbeat, no longer needing his light.

The three kids caught up and stood behind me at the cave chamber's entrance, and I heard Michelle gasp.

"That pokemon's _huge!_" She gawked, in awe. "I didn't know Onix were _really_ so big!"

"Michelle, _get back!_" It was ridiculous to keep seeing her as this fragile little child when she was ten years old, but we all sort of did. I knew Amber would kill me if I let her get hurt on my watch. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Drew grab her backpack and yank her back.

"Squirty, use Water Gun!"

"Kibia, Razor Leaf! Lenny, use Sand Attack and distract Onix!"

Drew and Natalie sent out their pokemon, to help me and Leafeon, and Drew stepped up next to me to help with the battle. It worked; Onix was hit with so many surprise attacks at once, it unwrapped its tail from around Barry in shock. The sand Lenny hurled into its eyes managed to blind it.

While it was good Onix has relaxed the grip on its tail, the only downside was...Barry had been held at least ten feet in the air.

Natalie immediately saw the problem. "Kibia, use Vine Whip, and catch Barry! Quick, before he hits the ground!"

"Bulbaa!" Vines shot out from under the green bulb on Kibia's back, and wrapped around Barry's skinny body just before he splatted on the ground. Kibia brought Barry over to us, dumping him on the ground by Michelle.

The kid was astonished, to say the least. "Aaron...?"

"Leafeon, use Magical Leaf! Wear Onix down!" I had seen countless rock types in my day, and dozens of Onix. They may have stamina, but can only withstand so many grass and water type attacks.

Drew didn't let up, either. "Bubblebeam, Squirty! Just keep attacking!"

Predictably, Onix tired before it could even attack us. I threw my head over my shoulder to suggest to Michelle, "Mitchie! Throw an empty pokeball at it, quick!"

"What?" Poor kid was confused, but produced one from her pocket.

"Just throw the pokeball!" I repeated. "Trust me!"

Michelle nodded, and I swerved out of the way just as she threw the pokeball. It opened up, sucking Onix inside. Leafeon and Squirty stopped their attacks, and we held our breath as we waited.

The pokeball wobbled fervidly, Onix desperately trying to escape. I prayed it was enough to keep it contained. Leafeon and Squirty must have done quite a bit of damage, as well as Kibia's Razor Leaf attack.

Finally, mercifully, it stopped. The pokeball stopped, in a bright flash of white sparks. I heard Michelle breathe deeply, like she'd held her breath.

Breaking the short, but tense, silence, Drew chuckled. "What the hell, did you just have Michelle catch a pokemon she never fought?"

_I don't approve of this one's attitude._ I shrugged. "Well, it was a good enough idea." I turned on my heel, to see Barry still sitting on the ground. "Barr! Jesus, man, are you alright?"

"Aaron?" Max's voice echoed into the cavern from his spot above. "Is Barry alright?! I thought I heard you!"

I turned back towards the gaping hole in the cave roof, cupping my hands around my mouth.

"I am going to _kill_ you for this one, Daniels!" I promised in a light-hearted tone. "Just you wait until we get you down here, I'm gonna give you the ass whooping Amber was always afraid to give you!"

"But Max wasn't-!"

"You be quiet, Barry. Did that Onix hurt you?" I was sure Barry's accident was just from him being excited and twitchy, like always. But, this was still sure to be quite the story.

Natalie answered before Barry could. "Your ankle...it's kinda swollen." She kneeled next to Barry, and tried to get a better look.

"Oww! Don't touch it, that hurts!" Barry yanked his foot back, swatting her away. "I think I rolled it or something, but I'll be fine."

Max was trying to climb his way down into the cavern, but I disregarded him. "Barry, _what happened?_" Tension creeped back into my voice. These _teenagers_ were trying my patience.

"We were trying to climb up to Floaroma Town instead of going through the caves," Barry admitted. He reluctantly let Natalie check out his ankle, and winced as she touched it. "The rocks just-they just crumbled under my feet, and I rolled my ankle when I landed on that dumb Onix!"

"It never once occured to you or Maxwell that it would be _easier_ to just go the normal route?" God, but they were predictable.

Panting slightly, I could hear Max run up behind me. "Where's that ass whoopin', Aaron? Barry, you alri-?"

My elbow in his lung interrupted Max's smart mouth. Brat was lucky I didn't make good on my threat.

_[Really? You think you could beat me up, stringbean?]_

You wanna go now, you little punk? Let's go outside, I'll teach you a lesson you won't-

_[**AARON! **Stop threatening my little brother! It makes **you** look like a punk!]_

_Tesserae Thompson._

"Gary! is Rosa home yet?"

The brunette boy shook his head no as I came into the house, standing at the kitchen sink. "Not yet, anyway," He answered. "How was training today?" He was still working on washing the breakfast dishes. Or were they from his lunch?

I slid my bag off of my shoulder, and onto the living room couch. Weavile pulled himself up on the cushions to sit next to it. He was probably all tuckered out from our training session that day.

Ever since I was sixteen years old, I had lived high in the mountains near the Lake Acuity Lakefront, with my aunt Rosa in her house. I went out every morning after breakfast to take my pokemon into the mountains and train, and we arrived back usually a little before dinner.

I had thrown my pokegear away, when I ran off. I refused to go into the nearby town, Snowpoint City, where Rosa went grocery shopping. I refused to let myself make contact with any of them again, because one slip up and I would be back where I had started.

I wanted to train, both myself and my pokemon. Until nobody ever needed to look after me again. Until Weavile could rely on me in battle, until _all _of my pokemon had as much confidence in me as I did them, because a pokemon battle means nothing if your partners don't trust you.

Four years later, I was twenty years old. I was no longer the shy, sniveling, boy-crazy crybaby girl my sister and my friends all surely remembered me as. At least, I was sure I wasn't.

Then, Gary came along, stumbling, half-starved, and covered in snow, and my aunt and I welcomed him in. He told us he had been in an avalanche, that he was only seventeen and there were people coming after him. Rosa took him in, the same as me, and she let him take refuge in her home. He had been to town with her a few times to help with the groceries, and though he wasn't the best at washing dishes or washing clothes, he certainly wasn't any kind of burden.

"When did she leave?" I asked, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter. "Are we on our own for cooking dinner?"

Once again, he shrugged. "I guess." It was kind of a vague answer.

I rolled my eyes at his piss poor answers. "It's fine to just say you don't know," I laughed.

Gary hadn't exactly warmed up to me. I had heard him mention a few times to Rosa that he missed his family so much. Two sisters, one older and one younger, and his grandfather...

As I headed to my room to change clothes, Gary sighed unhappily. He didn't seem to be in a good, or talkative, mood.

* * *

**AOF: I've been recieving some interesting questions lately, asking about Tess' whereabouts and about what happened to Gary. Hopefully, this clears it up.**


	23. The Windworks

_Drew._

_Several Days Later._

"This is stupid. The two of you are ridiculous."

"Who's being stupid?! If there's a chance we can stop those creeps, I say we should take it!" Barry stamped his foot on the ground to enunciate his point, which was sort of a stupid way to go about doing it.

"You have _no _valid proof whatsoever that Team Galactic would have even stopped here!" Arguing with Barry and Max was like trying to reason with a tomato about whether it's a fruit. "Just what makes you so high and mighty, you can predict what they do, when they do it?!"

Max, in reponse, pushed me hard. I stumbled backwards, almost into Nat. "Who even asked you, you fat country bumpkin?" He barked at me. "You never even _saw_ the real extent of what Team Galactic can do! Those idiots you found in Jubilife City were nothing at all!" Max was decidedly more aggressive about the issue than Barry.

In response to Barry's hurt ankle, Aaron demanded the two of them stick with us while we traveled to Floaroma Town. I wanted to stick a Spelon berry down my throat more than I wanted to have a conversation with Maxwell Daniels, but I still somewhat tolerated their company.

That asshole, he was just so damn _arrogant._ Nat had no quarrel about helping them look to see if Team Galactic had landed in Floaroma Town, but I just didn't see the point in wasting our time and energy for what was essentially a blind stab in the dark.

_At least Aaron isn't here, either. _Aaron was taking Michelle out to show her the meadow in the northern part of town, and help her bond with her new Onix. Some sort of flowery hippie Aaron shit or something, I wasn't paying enough attention.

Max and I stood arguing in the middle of the dirt road, halfway on the path to the Valley Windworks. I did my best not to bite back at him for the "fat country bumpkin" remark, for Nat's sake, but it wasn't easy.

Finally, just when it looked like I was about to punch Max, Nat grabbed my arm by the elbow and shouted, "Guys, you're being stupid! What does it matter? If we find those douchebags, then we find them! You're being so childish!"

Barry nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah, and wasting kind of a lot of time," He agreed hesitantly. "It's already, like...two." He was starting to wind down on whether he wanted to keep doing this or not, and start acting like a _decent human being._

Icy blue eyes glared at me as everyone started to agree with me. "Nobody _asked_ you to come along, Drew."

"And nobody asked for any of your [expletive deleted] attitude either, Max, but I'm still catching some shade coming from your direction." I raised my hand to my glasses and carefully pushed them up the bridge of my nose. "How about we just check that Windworks place, then call it a day for the search? If anything, I'd like to see those windmills."

Max rolled his eyes at my offer of a compromise, muttering something along the lines of "Whatever, you oversized nerd." It stung, but I held my tongue in fear of opening a whole new can of worms.

Being the most familiar with the land, Max and Barry turned and led Nat and I down the path that lead from Floaroma to the Windworks. Before long, I could hear some footsteps padding behind us...

"Outta my way, kids!"

"_Get back here, you piece of shit!_"

A man shoved by us, knocking Max over onto the packed dirt, and a girl slammed into my back, flopping her back on her ass. I stayed standing(but almost tripped over Max), but Barry grabbed Max's outstretched arm to help him up.

"Ugh...what the hell was that?!" Max grunted, using Barry to pull himself up.

"You oughta give that jackass a fine for getting your pants dirty..." Barry muttered.

The girl who had hit me jumped up, and as I turned around to apologize, she rammed into me face-to face and actually knocked me down.

"[expletive deleted]!" She screamed, pulling her orange hair out of her ponytail and getting back up again. "That goddamn [expletive deleted] just made off with my _Treecko_ because you shitheads didn't move fast enough!"

I recognized her, by the sharp edge to her voice and by her face. She was...

"Maggie Lowe?" Maggie tried to push by Nat, but Nat held her back. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Maggie pointed at Max. "You!" She addressed him, not knowing his name. "He plowed into you! Check your pockets!"

Max raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"That's how the stiff got me! _Check your pockets._" Maggie was so agitated, Max had to obey.

Max was wearing khaki cargo shorts, and pulled out the insides, grabbing the pokeballs that came out. He counted how many pokeballs he had. "One...two...three...four...wait, _four?_ Holy shit, where's Cassie?!"

Panic rose in his voice. Max looked around on the ground for the pokeball, exhaling in shock when it wasn't around.

Maggie nodded, a girm look on her face. "Sonuvabitch stole it. Do you guys have any idea what's over this way?"

Barry nodded eagerly. "The Valley Windworks," He answered immediately. "We _thought_ Team Galactic was gonna be there! See what we meant, Drew?"

Hard as it was to admit, Barry had a point. Him and Max were right on the money, with their assumption.

Max was positively shaking with rage. With an ugly snarl, he took off running down the road, before any of us could even try stopping him.

_Natalie._

When we caught up to Max, he was banging furiously on the door of what I could only assume was the windworks. It was a fairly sized building, with reinforced steel doors. There were several windmills out front and a few behind, with a few patches of grass next to the building.

"_Open up!_" Max screamed. "_Open up so I can **KICK YOUR ASS!** You have no right to my Croagunk, you stupid bitch!_"

I could see Max's knuckles were bruised and red from pounding on the steel so hard. Barry pulled him away, grabbing by the arms.

"Max, no, stop!" He cried. "It's not gonna do anything if you just hurt yourself!"

Grunting, Max struggled for another minute or two before giving up. None of us dared speak, and a tense silence creeped up on us.

Then, Drew dared speak. "Why didn't you just open the-?"

"The damned thing was locked, that's why!" Max was flushed and panting, and wiped sweat away from his forehead. Were those maybe _tears_ in the corners of his eyes?

Max tried to charge at the door again, but Barry grabbed him before Max could further harm himself.

"_MAX!_" Barry yelled. "Knock it off!"

"_Let me go!_" Max almost hit Barry in the eye. "Let me go, man, we don't know what they're going to do to Cassie!"

Max was chunkier than Barry, but they were obviously strong enough to stop each other. Fed up with it, Maggie grabbed Max by the hair and dragged him away.

"Owowowowowww! _Let go!_"

"Pull your head out of your ass and calm down!" Maggie shouted. She let go of his hair and pushed him to the ground. "My pokemon got stolen, too, but am I acting like a god damn fool? Get up off the ground before I kick you while you're down!"

_God, she's pushy._ Not that pushy is a bad thing.

"Th-there has to be a way inside," I offered. "The door is locked, and obviously, Max's anger alone won't open it, but what about our other pokemon?"

All I had were Lenny and Kibia, and though Lenny has some tough claws, neither of them seemed like a likely choice. Drew had Pixel, and there was a chance she could melt the door, but that would take a lot of fire that she probably couldn't produce.

"Max, you know just who we need...why not send out Da-?"

"No!" Max's voice was sharp and definite. "Not here!"

Barry's face fell at the rejection of his idea. "Why not? You know she's strong. She can get us insi-"

"I am not letting her out anywhere near these thieves and liars. I'll throw _you_ under the bus before I ever do that to Daisy." Wow, what a great friend.

Maggie's orange eyebrows furrowed as they argued. "What are you even talking about?" She scoffed. "If you've got a pokemon with the muscle power to get us inside, kid, you better let us know."

Indecision, and a little bit of fear, flickered in Max's eyes. He sighed, digging a pokeball out of his pocket.

"If I have to...Daisy, c'mon out already."

_Michelle._

_In the Meadow._

"Aaron...are you okay?"

Onix extended his head down so I could pet him, and I did. Aaron had sat against the trunk of a tree with gold leaves, and rested his head against his knees with a weary sigh.

We had spent the past few hours playing with Onix in the grass and flowers. He really seemed to enjoy it. Onix was such a sweetheart, despite having tried to hurt Barry. Onix had just been scared, Aaron told me later.

Lifting his head, Aaron flashed a small, tired grin. "Fine," He answered curtly. "Just a...a tension headache, I think. The sooner we get to Eterna City, the better...I miss the herbal medicine." He laid his head back down.

"I hear you there, pal," A voice sounded from the other side of the tree, followed by a cheerful sigh. "On the headaches, not so much that nasty herbal crap."

Aaron sucked in a sharp breath at the voice, lifting his head again. He turned it in the direction of the voice. "Excuse me, who's there?"

"Excellent question. I'll get back to you when I know the answer for sure." He sounded a little younger than Aaron, but definitely older than my brother. Maybe Amber's age?

Sighing again, Aaron pulled himself up to stand. He held his hand out to me, mouthing to stay right where I was. I nodded, and watched him circle around to the other side of the tree.

"Hey, what're you-hey! Just what are you-?!"

"Shit! Michelle! Back away!"

Aaron came back out from behind the tree, holding a flailing, struggling Team Galactic member by his collar. I was astounded he was so light. The poor guy didn't look so good; he had kind of a pasty complexion, and he was kind of boney. Gaunt, I think, is the word. Aaron threw him to the ground.

"Gaahh! Jeez-um, dude...that was a bit much." The grunt stood on his hands and knees where Aaron had thrown him, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"That outfit! Y-You're wearing a Team Galactic uniform!" Aaron declared, as if it weren't obvious.

The grunt glared at him. "Yeah, so what?" He grumbled, standing up. "I used to wear a hospital gown about a week ago, but I didn't look near as pretty in it."

I just couldn't help snickering. It was a funny comeback. Aaron put his arm around my shoulders, drawing me in protectively.

"What are you guys doing here?" Aaron snapped. "There were a few of you snakes lying around Eterna City, but I had no idea you'd slither to Floaroma."

The grunt chuckled, shrugging. "I'm not really sure, myself," He admitted. "I'm just a newbie here. Townsfolk've been real friendly, though-haven't bothered us one bit at the Windworks."

The grip on my shoulder tightened, to the point of hurting. "Ow-Aaron, you're hurting me!"

"The Valley Windworks?" Aaron parroted. "Michelle, your brother's there, with the others...what is Team Galactic doing _there?_"

"Look, dude, I don't understand the sudden hostility just because of my wardrobe," The grunt growled, crossing his arms. "And the kid said you're hurting her, let her go!" Aaron realized what I'd meant, and let go of me. "Look, all I know is that we need a whole bunch of energy. Wind energy, I would suppose, given where we are. And I can't give you my name, either-I really don't know who I am."

Aaron nodded, sighing in slight frustration. "I guess...I guess I was a little too worked up, there. Sorry. Would you go with the two of us, to the windworks? I have some friends who might-might get in Team Galactic's way."

I may be young, but I wasn't stupid. This grunt, he had no idea what Team Galactic was really up to, and Aaron was trying to sweet talk him into helping stop them from whatever mess they were in.

I nodded, hoping I could help. "Yeah," I agreed. "My big brother, he mentioned heading that way. He's sorta clumsy, and he might accidentally mess you guys up."

_I think it worked!_ The grunt nodded slowly at our request, rolling his eyes. "Well, I guess, if it'll keep Miss Mars off of all of our asses." _Mars!_ "I guess I can use my key to let you in."

Aaron nodded fervidly, laughing. "Haha, thanks, kid!" He thanked him, finally fully letting me go. "Let's head right over."

I returned Onix to his pokeball, and we started to leave the meadow, with the Galactic Grunt leading the way.

"Oh, by the way-about my name, I wasn't exactly being truthful. I don't got a name, but the other grunts like to call me Pluto, because I apparently look like death warmed over."


	24. Misery

_Daisy._

When Max sent me out of my pokeball, I knew something was wrong. His aura read the same as it would when he was sick with the flu, or something. He felt sick to his stomach and ready to either kill something, or cry.

"Max? What's the matter?" I looked up at him, pouting.

A girl standing behind him, with sunburnt skin and orange-blonde hair, gasped when she heard me. "That...that Riolu just...she just spoke, but didn't-"

"Telepathy exists," I curtly cut her off. I looked at my trainer again and asked, "Max, _what_ is wrong?" He was unusually tongue tied.

Max shook his head, snapping out of it. He swallowed hard, explaining to me, "Team Galactic, they-they stole some pokemon. They stole Cassie. I know, it'll be hard, but-"

"You gotta break us into this building!" Barry interjected, taking the lead when Max felt too upset. "Fast! Before they make off again and we lose poor Cass!"

_Now I get it._ Cassie was near and dear to Max's heart. Him and Barry had raised her from an egg. Next to me, Cassie meant everything to Max.

I looked around them, at Drew and Natalie and that tan girl. Drew and Nattie hadn't seen me much, but they knew about the thing with me and Astro. They were cool with it.

"You guys better stand back...a good ways," I warned them. "I don't want this to get messy."

All five of them nodded in agreement, and stepped back a few good paces. I faced the big steel door blocking us from entering, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

"How do you want it done, Maxie?" I asked.

"Force Palm, preferably, to keep you from hurting yourself."

"No can do. You know I'm a shit shot, that would blow down the whole building. Just thought it would be polite to ask before ramming it." I needed to work on my Force Palm attack anyway, if only to get my brother off my back, but this wasn't exactly practice time.

I took another breath, and got in position to run and slam myself into the door. That egghead, Drew, had to open his mouth.

"But, you really should be careful," He warned. "That's solid steel, and it'll definitely be hard for a pokemon of your size to break it down-"

"'A pokemon of my size'?" I bellowed. "What the [expletive deleted] is that supposed to mean, that I'm too small to do as my trainer asks? Watch this shit!"

I broke in a sprint towards the door, running at my fastest speed. Unlike Astro, I was gifted as a Riolu with better physical strength than a lot of Lucario-_especially_ for a Riolu of my size.

When I got close to the door, I pushed myself into the air and slammed it with all my strength, even using my tail to help. I didn't break the door off the hinges, but I did make a nice, sizable dent.

"Daisy! Are you alright?!" Immediately, Max assumed that I had hurt myself when I bounced off and landed on my side.

He tried to help me back up, but I shoved him away. "Quit it! I'm a big girl, I can do this!" I got back up on my feet, even though my side did feel a little bruised.

"Again!" I dashed at the door, throwing myself at it just as I did. I made a bigger dent, in another spot, but bounced off just the same. I was too light to keep on my feet.

I threw myself countless times at the door, but my strength and body weight just weren't a powerful enough combination. I was banged up and bruised and in pain, but until I could untie that nauseating knot in Max's stomach and rescue Cassie, just trying would never be enough.

Finally, Max couldn't stand seeing me hurt myself anymore. "Daisy! Stop! That's enough!" He scooped me up and held me back, but I struggled hard against him. Max squeezed me against his chest.

"Daisy, you tried your best," Barry tried to reassure me.

Max still felt sick. He wanted to scream. His pain was my pain, and I absolutely wouldn't allow it.

"_Not until I get you guys in there!_" I screeched. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Max was two seconds from reaching his breaking point. Cassie was taken away from him, and I was effortlessly throwing myself against a door with no results besides a beat up door and a bruised Daisy. I wanted Barry, or Drew, or _someone_ to do something to help. Max's own helplessness made me feel like I was suffocating in his arms.

_Let me go! I can't breathe! Stop-stop feeling so upset, you dumbass, you're going to kill me!_

"Holy hell...good lord, what's goin' on here?" A southern accent drawled out.

"Max! Just what the hell is going on?"

"Oh my gosh! Did Daisy do that to the door?"

The pressure...began to alleviate. Max actually began to loosen his grip as Aaron and Michelle approached behind us. I dropped to the ground, taking a deep breath.

Max grew tense again when he noticed the Team Galactic grunt, Pluto. Aaron hurriedly and sloppily explained that Pluto was almost entirely ignorant to Team Galactic's evil intentions.

It had always been that way, ever since Max and I were young. I bonded with Max right away when I had hatched from my egg, and his aura and his moods started to affect me.

When Max grew really nervous or really upset, like then, the pressure from his emotions got to be so enormous that my body couldn't physically handle the sensation. Astro had told me, when I was younger, that it was because we were two very special pokemon; that he felt that same way sometimes, but not only with Amber. I knew all about the headaches he had whenever fights started to break out, and all of that.

It sucked. It sucked really bad.

"Aaron, we _have_ to get inside the windworks-one of _them_ stole my Croagunk!" I assumed Max had pointed at Pluto. "And this girl-Maggie-he stole her Treecko, too!"

"Huh? That's not right." Pluto sounded genuinely confused, and his aura read just as much. "I won't tell you it didn't happen, but-oh, it must be a misunderstanding. If the, er, if the lock still works, I'll be happy to let you in and get y'all's pokemon back."

I wanted back inside of my pokeball, so bad. As much as I wanted to help in the unavoidable battle that was about to happen, I just...Max drained me. My trainer's emotions drained me, and I needed a nap so badly.

_Aaron._

I wasn't angry or surprised so much to see Max so upset, because that's who he is and he's sort of always a variation of angry. What was so shocking was what his little Riolu had done to that poor door.

It was dented mostly beyond recognition, with the dents shaped as if Daisy had been ramming the door, which is of course what she had done. That damn pokemon would do anything to stop the boy from crying. These children's disregard for basic laws and human decency were starting to make me sick.

Pluto fumbled with his keys for a moment, while Max returned Daisy to her pokeball. Pluto kept on spitting out sincere apologies.

"I'm so, so sorry for this mix up, you two," Pluto apologized. "I'm sure my friend didn't really mean to steal-well, I guess you can't accidentally steal two pokemon in one go, but I'm sure it had to be for a good reason!"

"The only good reason why someone would steal from two teenagers," Maggie spat out, "is because you guys are lying, crooked sacks of shit!"

"Maggie!" Michelle gasped at the insult. I quickly covered her ears.

"Hey, crisp carrot, there's young ears here," I reminded her. "Tone down what's in the sacks."

Pluto pushed the unlocked door open, with a little bit of effort, and let us in, still muttering a few apologies. Max practically ran inside, but I personally thought he probably needed a minute or two to gather himself back up.

"_Where's my Croagunk?!_" Max bellowed. "Where is she?! Where the [expletive deleted] are you, you thieving little bitch?"

"Treeeeeckooo!" Maggie called out. "Where are you?"

The windworks weren't especially big on the inside, but the walls probably blocked them from being heard well. Max darted into a hallway, trailed by Barry and Maggie.

"Wait, you guys-!" Pluto chased after, trying to stop them.

"Maggie!" Dammit, Michelle went with him!

_God damn it!_ The remaining three of us didn't have a lot of options. Clenching Leafeon's pokeball in my hand, I lead Natalie and Drew through, knowing the windworks better than they did.

I could remember when the windworks were much smaller, practically an abandoned building in the Floaroma countryside. Now it was a whole company, dedicated to clean, wind-based energy.

The main business office was at the end of the hallway, where the others were gathered. Pluto tried to get Max and Maggie away from the door.

"No, you guys-Miss Mars is busy right now! You can't just barge in!" Pluto pleaded. "Please, I'm begging you-"

"_Open up!_" Max screamed, banging on the door. "_Open up, you piece of shit! You do not want to _[expletive deleted]_ with the son of CYRUS!_"

"Give back the pokemon you stole!" Maggie demanded. "We know somebody has to be in there!"

Their faces were red and throats raw from shouting. They were both so determined, so _desperate_ to get their pokemon back. It was so admirable, because I had heard so many stories of kids who had their pokemon stolen and they didn't have the means or the heart to get them back.

Pluto gave me a desperate look. "Please, they'll never get in this way," He told me. "I need to speak to Miss Mars, I'm sure she'll find the grunt responsible and demand he right this wrong. Please."

I nodded, and did what I could. I grabbed Maggie's arm and the hood of Max's white hoodie, and pulled them both back.

"Let the man talk to his superior!" I chided them. "You two are acting so damn childish! Being forceful isn't the only way to do it!"

The kids didn't see it right to fight against me, even if Maggie didn't know me. I recognized her from the contest, and knew she had to be a sensible girl.

Pluto used his keyring to get into the office, and locked it behind him. I didn't stop Max and Maggie from listening in through the door.

"...What do you mean, give them back their pokemon? If those brats couldn't be vigilant enough to keep them, then that grunt that took them should keep them."

"What?! But...but, Miss Mars, these kids love their pokemon-!"

"Quiet! Don't talk back to a commander like that!" I heard what sounded like a strike. "Dismiss those stupid brats from the premises, or you'll be punished severely, Pluto. You're more than lucky Saturn never left you for dead. Love and companionship have nothing to do with competence."

Pluto fell quiet at that. Her voice sounded familiar, and her statement struck me as odd...why couldn't they fire him, instead? And who was this 'Saturn' person, that saved Pluto?

"...Yes, ma'am. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to speak out of turn like that." Pluto's keys jingled. "I'll let myself out."

Suddenly, I realized. The voice and name were familiar for a reason. I had met this woman before! She was-

"That's the lady who held Katie hostage," Natalie murmured. "I know it is. Aaron, we can't let her do this!"

Max was positively shaking with rage at the exchange. Maggie's fingernails dug into her palms, and I saw small droplets of blood drawn from her skin. The children were furious.

"I know, Natalie," I agreed. "The grunts, they must be somewhere else..." I had an idea. There was a breakroom in the windworks, next to a room with computers to process the energy and distribute it throughout Sinnoh. If we snuck to that breakroom, I was sure the grunts must have been there.

These grunts seemed lazier than when Team Galactic had first risen, seven years earlier. Obviously new recruits.

"Follow me, guys. Be quick, and be quiet. I think I know where to find that thief."

_Dan._

_In the Oreburgh Mines._

"Come on! Charcoal's going to have to be tougher than that to really beat Roark!"

Dee's rough coaching was starting to shake my resolve to gather gym badges, but that was just why I asked her to come along. I absolutely _had_ to grow tougher skin, if I was gonna be a real pokemon trainer.

Sableye helped Charcoal back on his feet, after having just beaten him in a battle. It was really pleasant to see how polite Carlisle had raised his pokemon to be.

Carlisle and I were having practice battles in the Oreburgh Mines. The gym leader of the town, Roark, was nice enough to have a section of the cavernous mines roped off where trainers like us could train before battling him.

Dee carefully watched over Carlisle and I while we trained our pokemon, with my Ducky standing to the side with her. I knew, with a fire type and a flying type as my only options, I was going to have a really hard time battling. But, I had faith in Ducky, and in Charcoal, even though he was still young and inexperienced.

"Does Charcoal feel up to another round?" Carlisle asked. His father hadn't sent him a new pair of glasses yet, so I hoped the dim light in the mine wasn't straining his eyes.

I paused, to give Charcoal a chance to respond. Charcoal whipped out his claws and relit his dim tail flame, letting out an adorable growl.

"Chaaaar! Charmander!" Charcoal squealed out in anger at Carlisle.

Dee laughed, clapping enthusiastically. "Thatta boy, Charcoal!" She cheered. "Sableye, you give it your best, too!"

"Blllleye!" Sableye answered, showing off his respectable claws to intimidate Charcoal. Both our pokemon were fierce little buggers.

Carlisle laughed, grinning ear to ear. We nodded at each other.

"Sableye, use Fury Swipes! Really go at it!"

"Metal Claw, Charcoal! Don't let Sableye punk you out!"

* * *

**AOF: Included the short bit at the end with Dan and Carlisle to check in on what they're up to. I don't know what's come over me to suddenly start writing so much, but I definitely won't question it.**


	25. Diversion

_Natalie._

"Michelle. Go right back to town. Now."

As Aaron led us through the building, pokeball still clenched tight in his fist, Max ordered Michelle to leave. She frowned at him, blue eyes clouding over in indignation.

"No!" She huffed in a loud whisper. "I wanna help!"

"Michelle Marie, I do not want you anywhere near Team Galactic again," Max growled at her. "These people are criminals. They're evil. I don't want you _anywhere_ near them. Go back to town and wait for us at the Pokemon Center. Do _not_ make me say it a third time." He managed to keep his voice quiet and calm.

"No, Max! I don't wanna just go back to the Pokemon Center, I'm not a baby!" Michelle was adamant. "You're really upset about Cas-"

Drew clamped a hand over her mouth, sighing angrily. "Do you _idiots_ have _any_ idea what sneaking around is? Every Team Galactic member within a mile is gonna hear you."

"Thank you," Aaron sighed out. He was sweating, just a little, and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

Aaron seemed incredibly nervous about sneaking around inside the Windworks. The ways he was always preaching about following rules, he was starting to seem sort of like an anal parent.

"...This is it, I can hear voices on the other side." There was a closed room, labeled "BREAK ROOM". The Windworks workers must have been somewhere else in the building, doing whatever it was Team Galactic needed them to.

There_ were_ voice inside the break room; laughing and cutting up, and I could swear I heard that grunt boasting about stealing the two pokemon.

Aaron tested the doorknob, and nodded. "It's unlocked, I think. You kids ready?"

"You have no idea," Maggie muttered.

"Right. Mitchie, sweetie, don't go in there with us. Stay near Nattie and Drew."

Aaron turned the doorknob enough to open the door, and then shoved it open with his shoulder. There were seven grunts in there, sitting around in chairs, with another one standing in the middle, holding up a blue frog-looking pokemon with big orange cheeks.

"_Cassie!_" Max charged into the room, shoving past Aaron, bashing his shoulder into the grunt who had his Croagunk.

"Oh, shit!" One grunt cried as they all got up.

"Who the hell let you brats in here?!" The thieving grunt demanded. He returned Cassie to her pokeball, pocketing it.

Pokeballs started being pulled out. I set Lenny on the ground; judging from the Zubat the grunt in Jubilife had battled Michelle with, my Bulbasaur wouldn't be a good idea to send out.

"Leafeon, let's go!" Aaron finally sent out Leafeon.

As he sent out his Squirtle, Squirty, Drew stopped Michelle from joining in. Max sent out a Gligar, Maggie called on her Lombre, and Barry sent out what I recognized as a Staravia.

"Gligar! Attack that grunt!" Max pointed at the one that had held up Cassie. "Do whatever it takes to get at the pokeballs in his pocket!"

There was so much confusion, with all of these pokemon being sent out. And Max was in such a crazy tizzy, he made things even worse. We all called out orders, trying to find a method to the madness, and I watched Lenny scurry around on the floor to hack and slash at whatever he could reach.

It was only a minute before I turned my head over my shoulder to glance at Drew, and Michelle was out of my peripheral. I whipped my whole body around, ponytail almost coming out to slap me in the face.

She wasn't there, at all!

"_Big brother!_" I heard her wail out. She was back down the hall! "_Maaax!_"

"What the hell is with Michelle?!" Drew gasped. "_Where_ the hell is Michelle?!"

"Someone's taking her away! We've gotta go!" I wasn't sure who it could possibly be. Or why. Who the hell would want a ten year old girl?

Not bothering to wait for Drew to return Squirty, or even collect Lenny, I bounded down to hallway to stop whoever it was.

_Michelle._

I was watching all the confusion in the room from between Drew and Natalie's shoulders, when someone wrapped their arms around me from behind. I squealed, until they covered my mouth with their hand to keep me quiet.

"I'm so sorry." It was that weird man, Pluto. "My boss told me to...distract you guys. Let the others slip out the back. I won't...I swear to God, I won't hurt you."

He started dragging me on the tile floor, taking me with him! I didn't know what to do. I had no idea. I didn't want to go with him, but even though he wasn't all that strong, he absolutely refused to let go when I struggled.

"H-hold still, kid!" When we turned the corner, Pluto uncovered my mouth.

Gasping for air, I cried out, "B-big brother!", hoping Max would come save me. "_Maaax!_ Help! Max!" I was so scared he was going to steal me like they had stolen Maggie and Max's pokemon.

I don't remember how far Pluto dragged me away from them. Or if it was even very far. But, one of my shoes fell off while he took me away, and that was what made me start crying.

"**_MAX! BARRY! AARON!_**" I struggled against Pluto again, wailing and crying and screaming, but nothing worked. My head was buzzing with frustration and fear.

Someone was coming after me, I could see their shadow. Pluto had dragged me back to the front entrance. Whoever was coming, they shouted out, but I hardly heard it.

Panicked, Pluto threw me down to the ground, and ran out of the front door. My head hit the tiles, and I started crying even harder.

"_Michelle!_" It was both Drew _and_ Natalie.

"Oh, my God...Jesus Christ, what happened?" Drew sounded completely breathless.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Natalie fretted. She kneeled next to me and sat me up, and Drew wiped away my tears.

I covered my mouth to hide my sobbing, nodding yes. "He th-threw me t-to the g-ground..." I hiccuped. "My head...it h-h-hurts!"

"Shh. Shh." Natalie rubbed the back of my head. "Here?"

"Yeah."

"Drew, take the pigtails out." Natalie brushed my bangs out of my face. "Mitchie, how bad does it hurt? WDid he just throw you to the ground, is that all?" Her voice was soft and nice, almost like Amber's.

Drew kneeled next to me, quietly undoing the ponytail holders out of my hair, taking care not to pull too hard. I sniffled.

"H-he promised he wasn't gonna hurt me," I admitted. "It was Pluto. Th-the man Aaron and I...we met him in the meadow."

Drew groaned, and handed me the ponytail holders. "I thought he looked shifty," He grunted. "Y'all shouldn't've trusted him."

It was only another minute or so before the others came running, except Max. Aaron was the one to pull me up to my feet.

"Oh, my God! Mitchie! I saw you weren't there and...and..." Aaron wrapped me in his arms, letting out a heavy sigh of relief. "What happened?"

"You just disappeared!" Barry huffed. "And your eyes, they're all red! That son of a bitch better not have hurt you!"

"What happened, kid?" Even Maggie sounded concerned.

I rested my head against Aaron's chest. I felt horrible for worrying everyone, almost like starting crying again.

"Pluto said he needed a distraction, to help the others escape...so he tricked you into chasing after me," I mumbled into Aaron's thin hoodie. "He got scared and threw me to the ground when he saw Drew and Nattie, and I-I bumped my head...but I'm okay. I thought he was gonna steal me, l-like his friend stole those pokemon..."

"Nonsense." Aaron tightened his arms around me. "Me and your brother'd _never_ let that happen, tyke." His voice shook, just a little.

Maggie snickered. "'Tyke'?" She repeated teasingly.

_Jeez, Aaron's nicknames can be so embarrassing... _I burrowed my face further in his jacket, blushing. At least he showed he cared the slightest bit, like a big brother should. Unlike my _real_ big brother...

_Wait._ Max. It hit me. He was the one who stayed back to fight those Team Galactic members. The others were too worried about me.

"If Pluto wanted to distract you guys to help his buddies get away..." I muttered, gently pushing Aaron away. He was starting to suffocate me.

The others caught on quickly to what I meant. From further inside, Max let out a loud, feral scream, and I heard something break.

_Aaron._

I spent all night that night on the phone with Dee, sitting on the bathroom floor with the door locked because I didn't want to keep Nattie awake with my yapping.

Team Galactic had gotten away. Maggie's Treecko and Max's Croagunk were gone, and I felt like shit. I should have done something. For Christ's sakes, I used to be a _gym leader_, why couldn't I have come through for them?

"Dee, I just can't shake the feeling-"

"Aaron, stop blaming yourself," Dee ordered softly. She was in Oreburgh City, with Dan and Carlisle, holed up in the bathroom like I was. "You're no superman. You can't...you can't realistically expect to be able to help everyone. Even a block head like Max has to understand."

"Dee, he almost broke his hand punching the wall," I reminded her. "He was so...angry. And Michelle...God, do you understand how fast my stomach leapt into my throat? How utterly _sick_ I felt?"

"Well, we can't tell any of this to Amber. Especially not Michelle getting pseudo-kidnapped. She'd send Astro after our asses or something, and..." She paused, to shudder. "I can joke about fighting Astro, but I'd love to live to see 21."

With a heavy sigh, I threaded my fingers through my bangs, shaking my head. "Yeah, you're right," I admitted. "I don't like keeping secrets, but I guess we probably should let Max tell her, if anything."

"Yeah...I hate to hear about all this. At least Barry came out okay, that's good." The way Dee tried to hover over Barry, you'd never believe they aren't blood. "Are you guys leaving for Eterna City tomorrow?"

"Uh-huh." _Almost home,_ I thought bitterly. "I'll bet you haven't even left yet."

"Hey, screw you, Wilkerson," Dee laughed. "The boys are working on getting their gym badges. They're gonna challenge Roark tomorrow. Besides, it takes a lot less time to go up Cycling Road than to go through that unholy forest."

From inside the room, I heard Natalie turn over in bed. I held my breath, hoping I didn't wake her. Dee was quiet, too.

I didn't want to hang up, not yet, so I asked, "Dee, you're pretty up to date with all these rising coordinators. Have you ever heard of that girl from Michelle's contest, Maggie Lowe-Joy?"

The name sounded a little familiar to me, but I couldn't place where. "Yeah, she kinda looks like that guy who was friends with that top coordinator we met as kids," Dee recalled. "His last name was Lowe, I remember. Same red hair, freckles, eyes, and all that."

_Oh, you bitch. Don't mention Lee._ I had idolized Lee so much when I was a teenager. It was embarrassing. Leon Higgins had been my favorite foreign coordinator, and I'd almost lost my shit when I met him in Veilstone City.

"Yeah, I think I remember," I admitted. "What was his name, do you remember?"

"I dunno. Why does it matter?"

"Well, that Lowe girl, she's sort of friends with Michelle, I think. After all that Team Galactic shit happened, she was hanging out with Mitchie. Not nearly as upset as Max was...or, at least, she didn't show it."

I sat there on the bathroom floor, talking to Dee for just...hours. By the time we hung up and I stood up to stretch my sore joints, it was almost 4:30 in the morning and I knew I had made a horrible decision.


	26. Unwelcome Change

_Natalie._

When I woke up the morning after Team Galactic got away, I sat up in bed and saw Aaron was already fully dressed, in his khaki pants, zip-up green hoodie, and yellow t-shirt. He was pacing the room, flustered and agitated.

Since we decided we were all gonna split up after we finally made it to Eterna City, Drew and Michelle stayed in one room in the Pokemon Center, with me and Aaron in the one next to them.

"Barry, I-I can't...you're breaking up. Slow down, for once. Where the _hell_ are you?!" That hadn't even sounded like Barry's voice.

"Can...ear...ow..." Barry kept coming in and out. "Can...ca...Can you hear me now!" He was nearly shouting.

"_Yes!_" Aaron answered testily. "Now, I won't ask you again, where the holy hell are you and Max?!"

"Max heard from the townsfolk that the old Fuego Ironworks is a popular training spot," Barry finally, impatiently, revealed. "So, this morning, we got up early and packed our stuff and hit the road as soon as the sun was up."

"The _Fuego Ironworks?_" The look on Aaron's face reminded me of the time Drew had been hit in the stomach with a softball. "You mean that _abandoned factory_ full of probably rusting metal?!"

"Yeah! That one!"

"What the dirt-scrapin' [expletive deleted] are you two lookin' for _there?_ Tetanus?!" Aaron was picking and biting at his bottom lip so badly in between sentences, it was starting to bleed.

Finally, Aaron noticed that I had woken up. He made surprised eye contact with me while he waited for Barry's answer, mouthing, "Did I wake you up?"

I shook my head, whispering, "What's going on?"

"Max wanted to get a move on and train his pokemon, so he can give those Team Galactic guys the beating he wanted to give 'em yesterday," Barry explained excitedly. "And, naturally, I'm with him 100%! So, we went ahead and left without you guys-"

"Is your ankle even healed?" Aaron snarled into the speaker. "If Dee were to find out you got hurt _and_ snuck away-"

"Jesus, man, I'm not a little kid anymore," Barry laughed, completely dismissing Aaron's worry like it was nothing. "Besides, she's not the boss of you, or me!"

"Have you ever met that psycho? Yes, she is the boss of me."

Barry laughed again. "I'm gonna hang up, Max is getting impatient. If Dee calls you, tell her I'm okay!"

The green Pokegear in Aaron's hand clicked, and the call was canceled. Aaron groaned, throwing it at his bed.

With the aggression released a little, Aaron paced the carpeted room, wringing his fingers together. He turned to me, nervously running his right hand through his hair.

"I'm so sorry that woke you up, Nattie," He apologized. "I just-I got almost no sleep last night, and when I woke up, I went to check on those two assholes, and they'd already checked out and left. I wouldn't have had it on speaker, but his signal was friggin' horrible, and I could hardly hear."

I nodded. "It's alright," I assured him. "Don't even sweat it." The ragged look in his eyes and the dark bags under them told me about as much. "Why don't you lay back down, and get some more sleep before we leave?"

"You sure?" Aaron sat at the foot of his bed with a disgruntled sigh, picking up his Pokegear and stuffing it in his backpack. "It's already, like, 7:30."

_Jesus Christ, it's early. _"We'll come wake you up at, like, 9. Didn't you say you didn't sleep?"

Aaron hesitated, then let a grin spread over his face. "I'm gonna hold you to that, y'know. Nine sharp."

Picking my bag up to take it and go shower, I chirped, "Yes, sir!"

I carried my bag to the bathroom to shower before we left for Eterna City, and Aaron climbed back under his covers to go back to sleep. Before I closed the bathroom door, I could hear him mutter, "Thanks, Natalie."

_20 Minutes Later._

When I got out, Aaron was out like a light. Leafeon was out of her pokeball, head poking out from under the covers, curled into Aaron's side. I turned the lights out as I slipped out of the room, leaving Lenny in my bed to get some more shut eye.

Drew and Michelle's door was locked, so I assumed they were awake. I found them sitting on a couch downstairs, Drew playing on his laptop while Michelle watched him.

"Whatcha playing?" I asked, sitting on the arm of the couch to look at the laptop screen.

It was a video game. "Earthbound," Drew answered flatly, not even looking at me. "Where's Aaron? He seemed pret-" One of his characters died, and Drew interrupted his own train of thought to sigh. "Oh, god damn you, Jeff."

Michelle giggled at the muttered curse. "Drew's real good at this game, Nattie," She stated matter-of-factly, as if I didn't know. "It's the kind of game that Max is always bringing home to Azzy."

"Aw, shut up, kid. I'm not good at shit."

"Huh? A Lucario playing video games?" I hadn't heard of any pokemon who could do that, but then again, Astro seemed one in a million...

Drew blew a raspberry at his laptop, groaning. "Yeah, apparently he's a whiz at RPGs," He explained, probably paraphrasing Michelle. "Not surprising, not really. Not surprising at all...Astro seemed pretty smart while we were around him. But, where's the big one?"

"Tired, real tired," I admitted. "I practically begged him to go back to bed. We're gonna wake him up in, like, an hour."

"An hour?" Drew scoffed. "What are we gonna do for an hour?" He saved and closed the emulator, turning the laptop off and sliding it back in its case.

Begrudgingly, I could admit he had a point. "Maybe we could check out Floaroma one more time?" I suggested. "Where's Maggie? I bet she could think of something."

After that disaster with Team Galactic, Maggie mentioned something about sticking with us. I couldn't blame her, although we didn't know her well at all. I guess she'd clicked with Michelle, because of the contest thing.

Almost on cue, Maggie came bounding from the second floor, dressed and ready for action. She had on short jean shorts and a green tank top, with her strawberry-blonde hair pulled up in a low ponytail.

"There you guys are," She laughed. "I thought you were still asleep. Are you leaving yet?"

Michelle shook her head, pigtails flopping. "No, not yet," She piped up for us. "Nattie says Aaron's real tired, so we're gonna let him sleep longer."

"I wanna hit up this shop nearby, it has flowers and berries and things," Maggie told us excitedly. "C'mon, you guys should come with me."

Drew's dark, pencil-thin eyebrow rose above his glasses. "Excuse me?" He shook his head, laughing and standing up. "Do I _look_ like I wanna go see 'flowers and berries and things'?"

_Oh no. Not this._ Drew had gone so long without purposely picking an argument. I was almost proud of him for it.

Before Maggie could egg him on further, I hooked my arm through Drew's and lightly tugged.

"Aw, c'mon, Drew," I pleaded, pretending I honestly wanted to go. "Don't be such a douche."

"Yeah, it sounds real fun!" Michelle agreed. "Me and Nattie don't wanna leave you here alone!"

Maggie crossed her arms and shifted her weight, scowling at Drew. I could tell, she already didn't like him much. "What's it gonna be, tough guy? You in, or out?"

"Well, if you friggin' pansies are gonna gang up on me..." Drew was blushing, from me trying to tug him with us, and the freckles under his glasses and around his nose stood out more than usual. He tried to play it off, hide it by adjusting his glasses and covering his face, but I knew better.

It was kind of cute, really. Perfect thing to tease him about later, the big lug.

_{Ugh, Nat...don't call me that.}_

_Riley Davis._

_On Iron Island, Around Noon._

_[Is Riley awake yet? I could've sworn...oh, good morning, Riley. Just begin when you're ready.]_

"Huh...something's different, right, Lucario?"

Lucario nodded, his eyes hard and steely. "Hyugh."

I nodded back, smiling. "Mm...good. Was starting to think I was finally going crazy."

The past few years, I'd been living on Iron Island again...I had hoped to see more of the world when I'd left home, but as long as I was still training to be an aura guardian, the old mines were a great place to train.

Even after Lee'd died, that was the one thing I hadn't lost sight of. I didn't have much to go on, with only a couple of composition books to guide me by, but it was enough that I wasn't discouraged. I knew my friends had to have looked for me, after Flint and Volkner lost track of me in Unova...but, I did my best to forget about that.

And with Amber...eugh. I'd rather not discuss the ugly thing that happened for me to cut her off, too.

With a groan, I stood up, and took Lucario's paw to pull him up. We were inside the old abandoned mines, combing the same tunnels I'd been toddling in since I was a child, and we'd taken a rest.

I wasn't the same little boy who'd left home when I was 13-I mean, yes, I was still Riley, but I'd grown up. Traded my baggy hoodie for a collared jacket, my ratty old beanie for a fedora-Dee, I swear to God, stop snickering at me.

Even though I didn't need to anymore, I traced my fingers along the rock wall as Lucario and I strolled through, just out of habit, because I rather liked the feeling of it. A small, glowing ball of aura shone in my hand to light the way-that was a nifty trick I had figured out while reading those old journals Lee had given me. Incredibly useful.

For the most part, since I was 15, the island had been very peaceful. Not as popular a training spot anymore, so the wild pokemon weren't as agitated as they always were when I was younger.

It was almost August, when the wild pokemon started attacking what little trainers came to visit. Me and my pokemon had no problem fending them off, but...

Something about it just didn't seem right, and it made _me_ feel odd. It was such a weird feeling, and I absolutely hated it.


	27. Forested Sanctuary

_Lee._

_That Afternoon._

I woke up that morning, curled up on a thick branch in that same meadow tree that Aaron had found me under not even 24 hours earlier.

The others had left me. Abandoned me, basically; by the time I got to where Mars' helicopter was, they had taken off.

I had no money, no clothes besides my dirty Galactic grunt uniform, no belongings, and I had no idea where the base we had originally left from even was; essentially, I was homeless. I didn't even have any ID, because I had no identification besides the nickname "Pluto".

Feeling too ashamed to face the Floaroma townsfolk, it felt like the only place I could have gone to that night was that tree in the meadow. It...it reminded me of home, wherever that was. It must have been a grassy place.

Honestly, I had had no idea why my teammate would have stolen those pokemon. The takeover in Jubilife City had confused me, as well; if Mr. Charon had said that Team Galactic had the goal of improving the world, why did we have to do such dirty things to do it?

"Hey...hey! In the tree!"

"Kid! What're you_ doing_ up there?"

I nearly jumped and fell off my tree branch when I heard two voices yelling at me. My heart nearly stopped. I looked down, to see a man in a blue pullover with dirty blonde hair and a taller man wearing a trench coat. The guy in the trench coat had a Pikachu with him, looking curiously up at me.

"Are you with Team Galactic?" The blonde man asked, thinly veiled excitement laced in his voice. Trenchcoat man elbowed him, a little roughly.

Yawning, I turned my body to sit on the branch. "Ah, yeah," I sighed out, glancing at my dirty uniform just to be sure. "What about it?"

"That means there's other Team Galactic members around?" The guy in the trenchcoat asked.

I shook my head, hopping off of the tree branch. The tree wasn't tall at all, so it wasn't a long distance...which was rather good, since I'm remarkably short.

"Sorry to disappoint, but the rest of the squad stationed out here got ran off yesterday by some punks," I admitted. "I just got left behind, I don't even know where the others are heading."

The whole deal yesterday had put me in a rather sour mood. Especially with Miss Mars asking me to drag away that poor little girl...and the fact that I hadn't eaten in almost a day didn't help my mood.

While the two of them tried to ask me another question, my stomach grumbled loud enough to startle a Munchlax. Blondie raised his eyebrows as I folded my arms over my middle in embarrassment.

"Wait...did you _sleep_ in that tree last night?" His voice had a concerned edge to it. "Did you even eat, kid?"

The man in the trenchcoat elbowed him, again. "Kent, it's really not our business whether or not-"

"I, ah, I didn't have anywhere else to go," I admitted, blushing. "Man, I'm starting to miss the food at the base..."

Despite his friend's protests, the blonde guy held a hand to me and offered a handshake. "I'm sorry we've been so rude," He apologized, speaking slowly and softly. "My name is Kenta Landry. My, erm, companion is Col Leech."

"I can introduce myself fine, Kent-!"

"Do you have a name?" Kenta continued, unperturbed by Col. I had a feeling that he was used to being interrupted.

I shook my head no, accepting the gensture. Kent took my hand and firmly shook it, grinning. "No, I-I don't really have a name." I wasn't about to continue introducing myself as a dwarf planet.

My odd answer didn't seem to bother either of them in the least. "If you'd be so kind to answer a few questions for me," Kenta offered, "then my companion and I would be more than happy to be kind in return and buy you a meal, let you shower where we're staying."

Col's eyebrows shot nearly to his hairline in shock at Kenta's offer. "Ex_cuse_ me, little man, you can't just...this kid's problems aren't any of our business!" The fur on his Pikachu's neck prickled with electricity, his ears poking up.

The kind smile on Kenta's face never faltered. "Col, this young man might have information that our good friend Aaron would like to have," He reminded Col in a strained voice. "Besides, kid, you already look skinny as a stick. For God's sakes, I can't, in good conscience, let you go without a meal. Anything you'd like, as long as it's in town."

Between the kind look in those warm gray eyes and the sincere offer of a meal, I couldn't possibly turn him down.

_Michelle._

_Outside of Eterna Forest._

"So, what...this Eterna City, the gym leader's a grass type trainer?"

"Yeah...she trained under me quite a while back. Gardenia's probably just a little older than you guys...God, wow, it's been too long since I've even seen her and that little sprout."

Once Aaron told us about Gardenia, his replacement as the Eterna City gym leader, Maggie got really curious. She seemed to like grass type pokemon.

We made it to the outskirts of the forest around noon that day, and Aaron was looking much fresher and feeling much better than Nattie had described. He'd even shaved the gold stubble that'd built up on his chin while we had travelled.

There was a single path that led inside the forest, but it ended just inside. There was no real way to navigate, especially with the treetops blocking out a lot of the sunlight.

"Um...Aaron?" I sounded a little nervous, because I was. "How...um, do you remember your way through?"

Aaron nodded, grinning. "Not to worry, kiddos," He assured us. "No matter how much Sinnoh starts to industrialize, some places are simply too sacred to change...Eterna Forest is one of them. This forest is known as a place where time stands still, because the thick foliage blocks most of the sunlight during the day, but not enough to really hinder travel..."

While Aaron droned on boringly about the forest and the trees, Natalie and Drew were mumbling to each other behind me. I caught bits and pieces of it.

"But what if...? I can just...Nat...so embarrassing..." Drew's low voice rumbled.

Natalie huffed. "Get over it," She insisted, a little louder, but not enough to disturb Aaron and Maggie. "Just hand it over to me...if _Dan_ heard you say that..."

"Dan wouldn't say shit, because he's Dan." It almost sounded like they were arguing.

Finally, feeling nosey, I looked over my shoulder and whispered, "Is everything okay? You two sound kind of upset..."

They looked it, too. Natalie was frowning and glaring at Drew, lips pursed, while he looked as pink and flustered as he had been lately.

"Everything's okay, Mitchie..." Natalie tried to assure me, lips curling into an insultingly fake smile. "My best friend is just being a butthead...aren't you, Drew?"

With a roll of his eyes, Drew sighed out, "Yeah, _I'm_ definitely the stubborn one here...Christ, Nat..." When she looked away from him, under his breath, he added, "...you stubborn jackass..."

Curiosity really almost got the best of me. I was dying to know what made Natalie so irritated that she would bicker with Drew; Lucas and I were best friends, just like Natalie and Drew, but we never picked fights with each other.

But, I didn't want them to think I was rude, or nosy. So, I kept my mouth shut and followed Aaron deeper in the forest.

The trees started to blend in with each other more, the deeper inside we went. It felt like one of those cartoons, where the background keeps recycling during chase scenes...I wasn't even sure how long we had been wandering around in there...

"_Aaaaaah! **HELP!**_"

Then, a little girl's shriek broke the daze I was in. Aaron stopped completely still in his tracks, and the four of us imitated him. The scream echoed through the trees.

A breeze picked up in the following silence, and Aaron continued to stand frozen. I couldn't even see him breathe.

"Was that...?" His low voice rumbled. The breeze ruffled his hair, and from the side, I saw his bangs flop in his face.

"...Was that a little girl?" It didn't sound like what Aaron meant, but Maggie at least said what we were all thinking.

There was a loud commotion in the trees surrounding us. It sounded like flapping wings. Aaron gasped, loudly, then took out Leafeon's pokeball and threw it into the ground, sending her out.

"_Hold on, I'm coming!_" Aaron stripped his backpack off of his shoulders without any warning, taking off running with Leafeon at his heels!

"_Aaron!_" I tried to follow after him, but Maggie grabbed me by the elbow and held me back. "Maggie, let go!"

She tugged me back behind her. "Don't just go blindly following him, someone's obviously in trouble!" She chided me, glancing at Drew and Natalie for support.

I looked behind us, at they two of them. They looked almost mortified at Maggie's words, as if she personally insulted them.

They shared a look of understanding, then Natalie set Lenny, who had been comfortably in her arms, on the ground. He shook his head and stretched his muscles, ready to go.

"That's _exactly_ why we should follow after him, Maggie!" She insisted. Natalie took off running, Lenny keeping up with her, and Drew kept pace with her. Aaron's path was easy to see, from the disturbed leaves and grass.

It was almost like a messed up game of follow the leader, but Maggie hefted Aaron's discarded bookbag on top of her own and we hauled it to catch up to our friends.


	28. Hide and Go Seek

**AOF: Sorry this chapter took so long, been a combination of school and trolling my homeboy Ryan, who's a crazy big fan of this story.**

* * *

_Kenta._

_Back in Town, Several Minutes Later._

We found a small, quaint little sandwich shop in town, empty enough to where the three of us wouldn't be disturbed.

The boy we'd found eventually confessed his nickname of 'Pluto' to us, embarrassed that I had nothing else to call him. I was completely understanding. He partially explained about his amnesia, and I told him he didn't have to explain anything to us until he had eaten.

Armed with a pen and notepad, I found us a table outside to sit at, and we ordered our food from a polite waitress. Col ordered a toasted Cheri berry sandwich and I ordered just a lemonade to start, but Pluto completely blew me away.

Pluto ordered two Cheri berry sandwiches, one ham sandwich, a large iced sweet tea, and a basket of bread rolls, and he started scarfing down the food immediately. I was completely blown away; how could this tiny, pale, scrawny kid put away so much at once?

Col chuckled humorlessly at Pluto, giving me a sideways glance. "Wow, Pluto, you sure...are...hungry." I ignored the remark, clearly aimed at me, for the sake of continuing to appear professional.

Finally, after another minute or two, I just got so impatient and irritated. When Pluto reached for his drink to chase down a bite of sandwich, I reached over and grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Pluto, I'm sorry, but could you please at least slow down?" I requested. "I'd really like to learn something besides what your chewing sounds like. Besides, slamming everything down at once like that, it can't possibly be healthy."

The boy paled as he retracted his hand, gulping down the bite guiltily. "I-I'm sorry..." He spluttered out, embarrassment dusting his cheeks in pink. "I-I guess I have been a little rude. The food at the Galactic bases, it's just so _bland,_ and this food...it's just really good, a-and I didn't-"

"It's quite alright, Pluto, you don't have to give an apology speech." I flashed what was supposed to be a comforting smile. "But, there's nothing rushing me or Col, and I certainly have no intention of rushing you. Feel free to take your time."

At my statement, Col raised his eyebrows and sat up a bit straighter. "Kent, what about that man you were supposed to meet with in Twinleaf Town, that Aaron guy?" He tore off a piece of the sandwich he'd been nibbling on, and fed it to the Pikachu in his lap. "We've been rushing around so much, I tho-"

"Everything's taken care of with Aaron," I reassured Col. "Trust me, I would have never bothered with Pluto if I didn't have a lock on him."

Earlier, when we arrived around ten, I had asked Nurse Joy to ask her sister in Eterna City to tell Aaron we were on our way. Him and his little group had left just after nine, which pissed me off, because we had _just_ missed him.

I turned my attention back to our surprise lunch date. "Anyways...Pluto, you mentioned that you found yourself with amnesia."

Teal-dyed bangs bobbed fervidly as he nodded. "Yes, sir," He confirmed. "Just a few weeks ago, I had come out of a coma...I'm not sure at all what put me under, but I woke up in some lab run by Team Galactic...there was kind of a commotion, I guess, when I regained consciousness."

I nodded, jotting down his recollection on my notepad. "M'hm..."

Pluto took a sip of his tea, thinking for a moment. "I...think the scientist really 'in charge' of me was named Charon? I'm not sure if that's his real name, though, because most of the high ranking members go by pseudonyms."

"Wait, slow down." I scratched a line through 'Charon' on my notepad, including a question mark next to it. "Please name those members you remember with the code names."

"Umm...Miss Mars, definitely...Miss Jupiter...and I think Commander Saturn, too." Pluto nodded, confirming it to himself. "Yeah, him, too. He's kind of a younger guy, but he's the one in charge of the whole thing until the real leader is found or something."

"'Real leader'?" I sipped at my lemonade, not even looking at him at this point. "Can you explain?"

"I'm sorry, most of this is just stuff I overheard, or stuff went over in basic training." I saw Pluto slump in my peripheral vision. "Oof...I can see what you meant by slamming the food down..."

Without even thinking, I grabbed the half a sandwich he still had left, and took a bite. Col got a chuckle out of it, and Pluto sat up straight again.

"Hey, that's-!"

"-Bought with my money. Besides, you literally just admitted you were stuffed." I took another bite, and mumbled through the food, "Is there _anything_ you remember from your life before Team Galactic?"

Pluto shook his head, slumping again. "No...well, not anything important..."

"Sorry, but Kent is probably going to want anything you've got, kid," Col alerted him. Col gave Pikachu the rest of his sandwich, taking a bread roll from the basket in the middle of the table. "It'd probably be better for all of us if you didn't make him pull teeth over this."

I nodded in agreement. "Big man's right," I clarified. "Importance is irrelvant, because what's important to me might not be so for you." I stuffed the rest of Pluto's sandwich in my mouth. Eating it, I could really understand why he and Col liked them so much, although spicy berries weren't quite my cup of tea.

Pluto nodded, muttering another quiet apology. "W-well, I remember one name. It's not my name, or at least I don't think so, but it seemed too important for me to disregard..."

"Please give me that name. is it a first or last name?"

"Mark." Pluto didn't hesitate. "M-A-R-K, if you need the spelling. I also have a tattoo, on my shoulder, with an M on it..."

I nodded, grinning like a dork and eagerly writing all of this down. I was already on my third page of notes. I ate a whole bread roll in one bite, really starting to feel hungry.

"This...this is all really good. Really, Pluto, I can't thank you enough for accepting my offer. Could you please tell me more about Team Galactic, like when you woke up in that lab you mentioned...?"

_Aaron._

_In Eterna Forest._

Birds wings flapped ahead and twigs broke under my feet as I flew through the forest, heart pounding dangerously fast.

Every day, just as I begin to relax, a new source of distress always comes to me. My chest felt tight as that scream echoed in my mind, feeling as if I was beginning to have a heart attack. The twisting pain and worry made me want to cry, but I couldn't.

_No. No no no nonono. Not her...not Kynie...there's **no way** that was Kynie..._

There was no mistaking the terrified scream of my 6 year old baby sister. Why she would be in this forest, I hadn't the foggiest idea. I just propelled myself in the direction I had heard her in, praying it was someone else's baby sister.

It wasn't.

There was a small girl curled at the base of a large oak tree, with long hair the color of a Pikachu's fur, wearing a pretty pink bejeweled dress that I had scrimped and saved to buy for her sixth birthday. Murkrow surrounded her, pecking at her, trying to steal the fake gems off of her.

"_Get away!_" Kynie screamed, sobbing harder as one almost hit her in the eye. She kicked it away, almost losing her little pink tennis shoe. "Ja-Ja-Jaaaasooonnn! Gardie! _Help me!_"

"Leafeon, save her!" Leafeon and I both barreled into the cloud of black pokemon, shooing them off. I picked Kynie up and took her into my arms, remembering just how heavy a little kid can be.

She almost started fighting and screaming again, until I stroked her hair and shushed her. "Shh...shh, the birds are gone, honey. Aaron's gotcha. Birds are gone."

"A-Aaron...?" Kynie picked up her head, seeing me with her bloodshot green eyes. She gasped, hugging me. "Aaron! It's Aaron!"

I chuckled, hugging her back. "Heh, it really is me," I laughed, setting her on the ground. "Kynie, sweetie, why are you so far out from home?" It was amazing how much I'd grown since I'd last seen my sister; her forehead hardly reached my hip.

The last time I had seen my sister, she had been four years old and I had only visited home for a few days. Mom sometimes let her video chat with me on the computer, and I talked on the phone with her all the time, but I had missed seeing her, and our brother, so much.

Before Kynie could answer, the others came running, Maggie carrying my backpack and Lenny jogging at Natalie's feet. Kynie hid behind my leg, grasping my hand for comfort.

"Wh-who're those big kids?!" She demanded.

Happily taking her hand for support, I grinned and kneeled down to her level. The kids watched me, dumbstruck that I knew this tiny little thing.

"These are my new friends, Kynie," I told her, pointing each other of them out. "Look, Maggie...Drew...Nattie...and Michelle. I met Michelle while working with Professor Rowan, they're all very nice boys and girls."

Maggie hefted my backpack to the ground. "Aaron, who is this kid?" She asked, sighing.

"You scared the holy he-" Natalie gave Drew a sharp jab in the ribs before he could curse at me, hard enough to make him wince. "Augh...y-you scared us."

"I'm Kynie Wilkerson!" Kynie announced matter-of-factly, standing on her tiptoes. "Aaron's my-!"

"I'm her big brother," I interrupted, grinning shyly. "But, Kynie-"

"What is she _doing_ all the way out here?" Natalie interjected.

I sighed, a little frustrated. "I was literally trying to ask her that."

Kynie frowned at my frustration, looking down at her feet. "I...I was playin' with Jason, and all his friends," She admitted. "We were playin' hide and seek, and I thought I had the best hiding place...I went in that old house place, the one Gardie doesn't like, and Jason sure didn't find me!"

Just the mention of her in the Old Chateau made my heart drop to my stomach. "You-you hid _where?_ Oh my God, Kynie, Mom must have told you a million times to never go in there!"

"Don't yell at me!" Kynie barked. "Jason didn't find me, so at least I won the game! I just...got kinda lost, going home, and those mean birds saw the pretty stuff on my dress..."

"Well, you still should never have gone near there. You could've gotten hurt. Just let me call Mom..."

"_No!_" Kynie tried to grab my hand as I reached in my pocket for my Pokegear. "No, don't tell Mommy! She'll be so mad!"

I held it out of her reach. "I _have_ to call Mommy, Kynie, or else she'll be worried," I sternly reminded her. Turning back to the kids, I whispered, "Just a sec."

It took a moment to find Mom's number in my contacts, but I dialed it and waited. The signal was kind of bad in the forest, but she needed to know where her daughter was.

"Mom? It's Aaron."

"Oh my God-Aaron, I really can't do this right now, there's so much going on..." From the shuffling I heard in the background, she was obviously about to head out of the house.

"No, Mom, you _have_ to listen to me, I-"

"Aaron, Jason just came home sobbing his eyes out because he lost Kyndra in the forest, I _can not_ just sit here and listen to y-"

"Mom, Jesus Christ, I _have_ Kyndra right here with me!" I rolled my eyes, groaning.

My mother paused for a moment before she stuttered out, "Wh-wha...what? Aaron, where are you?"

"I'm standing smack-dab in the middle of Eterna Forest, Mom," I notified her, a little irritated. "I heard Kynie scream and I came running, and found some Murkrow trying to get at the fake pearls and stuff on her dress. Leafeon and I chased them off, she's a little shaken but she's not hurt."

"_What?_" Mom was completely taken aback. "Aaron, what about the professor? I thought you were working at the lab!"

"Consider this some field work. I can explain when I get home. Look, I'm going to bring Kynie home myself, I'll see you in just a bit. Love you!"

I hung up without waiting for an answer, pocketing my Pokegear with a sigh. "Come on, guys...we have to bring Kynie home." I took her by the hand, and started to lead her back into the thicker forest.

"Wh-wait! So we're just gonna take this girl with us?" Drew spluttered.

"Uh, she's my sister. _Yes,_ I am going to take my baby sister with us. I know your ladies' skills are rather unrefined, Andrew, but maybe someone on the same social plane as you can help improve that. And Maggie, please, be a lamb and hand me my backpack."

I didn't have to turn around to know that lug was probably blushing scarlet red, praying for my death as Maggie handed me my backpack. Picking on Drew was a lot more fun that you would think.


	29. Nosy Onlookers

_Natalie._

_Seven Hours Later._

It wasn't until almost seven that we finally made it to Eterna City. The sun was almost down, starting to disappear behind the forest. By then, Aaron was carrying his little sister; she was tired and wanted a nap.

"Mm mmm mm mm, mmph mm..." He hummed under his breath as we set foot in the city, taking a deep breath and laughing softly.

"Can you quit the stupid humming?!" Drew griped, careful not to wake Kynie.

Eterna was more of a town than a city, and a pretty little place. There wasn't much grass, being so close to the mountainside, and most of the roads were a mixture of dirt and cobblestone. On the other side of town, on a highly raised piece of land, there was a statue of two pokemon, but I couldn't make out what they looked like.

Then, to break the sleepy quiet we had started to appreciate as Aaron turned us down a street, at least three pillars of fire raised up from around the statue across town. It caught the attention of all five of us.

Michelle nearly shouted at the sight, bumping into Maggie. Aaron jumped up so suddenly from the fire, it woke up his sister. "Huh...? Whass wron'?" She muttered, raising her head from his shoulder.

Me, Drew, and Maggie waited for Aaron's call on this, sharing nervous looks. This was the kind of thing we would probably stick all of our noses into.

Aaron set Kynie on the ground, holding her shoulder as she regained balance. "Nothing's wrong, sweetie. Can you run home for me, tell Mom I'll be there soon?"

She must have seen the fire from behind him, because she squeaked, "No! I wanna go with you to see the fire!"

Aaron rolled his eyes. Michelle caught his gaze, and took Kynie's hand. "Look, I'll go with you, Kynie. Maybe your mommy's made something for dinner!"

A light when off in the little girl's eyes as she remembered food. "Ooh! Yeah! Mommy's makin' spaghetti tonight, let's go, Mitchie!"

The two girls set off running down the road, with Kynie leading Michelle by the hand. That left us big kids(and Aaron).

Drew pointed off at the statue, shouting, "Aaron, what the hell _is_ that?!"

"The hell kind of statue is that?!" Maggie demanded, agreeing with Drew.

"Aaron?"

"I don't _know_ what the hell is going on, just follow me!" The pillars were all gone at that point, but the statue was easy to see.

We were almost stopped by the small crowd growing around the scene. Aaron groaned loudly, shoving scattered nosy teenagers and adults out of the way. Half-heartedly, he muttered, "'Scuse me, pardon me, sorry..."

When we got to the top of the platform the statue was on, all I could hear was a teenage girl shout, "FlareBurst! Once more, use Fire Pledge!"

More fires raised up from the ground, obscuring our vision of the scene. I thought I could recognize the girl's voice, and, without thinking, dropped my backpack on the ground to try and go to her.

Before I could make it(and die in a firey abyss), thick, solid arms wrapped around my waist from behind and held me firmly in place.

"**_NAT!_**_ What are you doing?!_ Don't you go anywhere near that!" Of course it would be Drew. He held me tighter as I tried to wriggle away.

"Katie!" I shouted. _"It's Katie!_ Drew, she-she's in trouble, what the hell is she doing?!"

"Don't you _dare_ go into those damn fires! Either they'll kill you, or _I_ will!"

When the attack wore off again, I saw exactly what she was doing.

Katie was backed against the base of the statue, surrounded by four charred Team Galactic members, each one with a pokemon out to fight her. She had four out of her own; Jay, her Quilava, FlareBurst, her Quagsire, Peanut, and her Umbreon, Buddy. Jay flitted excitedly above her head, the other three closely surrounding their trainer.

I struggled even harder against Drew, desperate to help her. "W-We gotta help her, Drew!" After the ordeal in Jubilife City, I couldn't stand the thought of my family being in that kind of trouble again. "She's gonna be-!"

"I think she's got this, Nat, just look!"

"Jay, use Barrier, again! FlareBurst, use Swift to take down that Golbat!" Katie wiped sweat off of her forehead as she gave the orders. "Buddy, Dark Pulse, and Peanut, Water Pulse! You two hit whatever you can manage!"

Jay put up a reflective shield around Katie and her team, and they all dished out their attacks at the grunts' pokemon, staying under the protection of Jay's Barrier. Swift, Dark Pulse, and Water Pulse were all special attacks instead of physical attacks, and so they passed right through the barrier with no problem.

Katie made eye contact with me while the attacks connected with their targets, wide-eyed and surprised. She quickly nodded, a grin spreading across her face.

"You Team Galactic idiots, you just don't _get_ it!" She growled at the grunts as their pokemon, two Golbats and two Glameows, threw themselves at Jay's unbreakable Barrier. "I am the granddaughter of Professor Samuel Oak, the greatest Pokemon expert around! You'll _never_ defeat me!"

The grunts stepped back away from her at her declaration. They looked around, startled, and saw that what few spectators there were had them just as cornered as she was.

"Shit...she's right. We can't even touch the girl," One grunt, a woman, admitted. "What do we do?!"

The grunts all returned their pokemon, admitting defeat. Katie watched, pleased. She let Jay let down the barrier protecting her and her pokemon, and took a few steps towards them as the people gathered around went wild.

"...Commander Jupiter told us to use this if we need to go!" One grunt threw what looked like a ball on the ground, and the air erupted in white power and smoke.

Drew finally decided to let me go, covering his mouth as he and several others around us erupted in choked coughs from the smoke. It choked me up a little, too.

I heard footsteps on the ground, but hardly paid attention to them as I tried to help Drew. "Drew! Drew, are you ok-?!"

"I-It's a smoke bomb!" As if I couldn't judge that for myself. "Aaron, Maggie-!" He spluttered out another cough, and I felt horrible for being unable to help him.

"Right here!" Maggie sounded.

"It'll be gone in just a few seconds, kids!" Aaron warned.

Just a few feet in front of me, I heard Katie shout in a pretty undignified manner, "_SHIT, goddammit,_ they got away!"

The smoke and powder cleared in half a minute, and Drew still had his hand on my shoulder, coughing and steadying himself. Aaron had, at some point, grabbed at the necks of both of our shirts, to keep us all together.

Katie was just a few feet away, like I'd thought, and had returned her pokemon while she'd had the opportunity. People were already dispersing, disappointed the battle was over. She went right to me, taking me in a bear hug and almost lifting me off the ground.

"Katie!" I squealed.

"Ohhhh, Nattie!" Katie sighed out. "Oh, God, after they threw that smoke bomb, I was frigging terrified about you...what're you doing here?"

Katie already looked different from when we saw her in Jubilife. Her brown hair was combed and neat, pulled back in a ponytail, and she'd dyed two streaks of bright pink along the sides of her head. When she let go of the hug, Jay flittered over and nuzzled her cheek, and she plucked him out of the air.

Aaron scoffed before I could answer, shooting back, "What is _she_ doing here? What about _you_, little girl?! We literally _just_ saved you from Team Galactic, like, a week and a half ago."

I didn't care about any of that. Katie was okay, and that was what mattered. She rolled her eyes at Aaron, grinning and laughing.

"I'm on a few errands," She admitted flippantly. "Daddy wanted me to bring Car his new glasses, among other things. More importantly-" Her attention focused on Drew, standing directly behind me. "You, jolly blue giant. You were gettin' kind of fresh there with my Nattie."

Took me a few seconds before I caught onto what she meant. When he was holding me back. Pink colored Drew's face as he caught on, blushing bashfully.

"N-No, I...she was...was gonna run into _fire,_ so _someone _had to stop your idiot cousin!" He argued back weakly. Both Aaron and Maggie covered their mouths, failing to hide their laughter. Drew turned around sharply, adding, "Knock it off! Damn!"

Katie burst out laughing, not even bothering to hide it. "Don't take things so seriously!" She chortled. "God, your face got so red, you look like a cherry. I see what Nattie meant."

"'What Nattie meant'?!" Drew really _was_ red as a Cheri Berry. "What the hell do you tell her about me, Nat?"

Aaron and Maggie finally stopped laughing, Aaron actually brushing a tear away from his eye. Maggie elbowed Drew away, to tell Katie, "Nevermind the big nerd. What a hell of a combination all of your pokemon make! What we saw of that battle was _awesome!_"

Katie shrugged, grinning. "Whatever. I just wanted to get those bastards away from me, I have to get back to running my errands."

"Errands?" Aaron checked the time on his Pokegear. "I guess it is getting a little late...I'm going to go see my mom and the kids. Nattie, Drew, Maggie, Pokemon Center in the morning?"

I nodded, and Aaron already started walking away. "'Night, Aaron! See you in the morning."

Drew and Maggie didn't care much about him leaving us. Maggie went right back to talking. "Seriously, though...what, Katie, was it? I bet you could be a coordinator if you wanted it. I've never even _seen _ a Togetic before, he's very cute."

"Togeh!" Jay chirruped in Katie's arms, happy to be praised.

Now it was Katie who was blushing. "You don't have to lay it on so thick. Who are _you?_ What're you doing with Nattie?"

"Name's Maggie. Didn't you have stuff to do?"

Katie gasped, nodding. "Shit! Yeah!" She took me and Drew each by the arm, pulling. "C'mon, the three of you come with me! I don't wanna carry all my groceries by myself!"

There was no way I could say no to her. We tagged along with Katie, spending almost an hour buying groceries with her and her dad's credit card.

_Col Leech._

_Late that Night._

Once again without consulting me, Kent adopted Pluto, gave him "civilian" clothes to wear(comprised of a pair of his jeans and one of my shirts), and told him he would stay with us. _"Col, you've gotta understand! What if Team Galactic found him again? In the clothes we lent him? We can't just abandon this child."_

Pluto, who woke me up at 2 in the morning with a bad dream.

It wasn't Pluto himself that had woken me, but my Pikachu. He'd been woken up by him, and woke me up so I would do something.

Pluto didn't mean to disturb _anybody_, but it was still irritating to be forced awake at such an unholy hour. I could hear the boy tossing and turning in the bed next to mine, muttering and whimpering. Kent was such a heavy sleeper, he would have never been woken by it.

There was no getting around it, I had to wake the kid up.

I sat up, groaning softly and scratching my head as I looked around the room.

At a small table in the corner, Kent was slumped over his laptop, and it was easy to see he had been on it until he passed out. Pluto had kicked the covers clear off of his bed with all of the movement, curled up on his side. He was breathing heavily and talking in his sleep, and I caught a few words from him.

"Don't...don't go...help..." It was probably a pretty bad nightmare. I couldn't let it go on. He looked so...so damn _pitiful._

I got up and went to his bed, shaking his shoulder. He was shaking like a leaf. "Kid," I whispered. He curled in even harder on himself, and I shook him harder. "_Kid!_Wake up!"

Suddenly, he straightened out and shot up in bed, nearly headbutting me. "Stop!" He practically shouted the word. In the moonlight, I saw a tear reflected on his cheek, and he wiped it away before looking at me. "O-oh. It's...you."

"You were having a nightmare. You woke me up." I wasn't really _that_ mad, but it came across to him like that.

Pluto glanced away, ashamed. "...I-I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't mean to. I-If I go back to sleep..."

"Do you have nightmares often?" He definitely made it sound like he did.

I didn't get an immediate answer, and he seemed to be fast at answering questions, so I assumed he didn't want to talk about it. I shrugged, shuffling back to bed, before I heard his nervous peep of a voice.

"Rocks. I-It was...rocks this time." I turned back towards him. "Big ones, a...a real landslide. They all fell on me, and there was somebody there, a friend...and I th-thought he would help..." He was talking in such a jittery way, and spouting off information faster than I could hear. "But I got buried, and...and..."

He quickly brought his hand to his mouth, biting down on his thumbnail and gnawing at it. I'd noticed him chewing his nails a few times earlier, before the three of us went to bed...was he trying to shut himself up?

I shook my head, trying not to think too hard on it. It was too late and I was too tired for all of that nonsense. "You...what?" I could have been a bit more eloquent, with another few hours of sleep.

"Nothing. But...I don't think I could sleep."

"Well, we're leaving first thing in the morning, so at least make an attempt." I slipped back in my bed, hoping the conversation was over.

Pikachu had some other ideas. He sat up next to me, frowning, and I could see Pluto reflected in his glassy black eyes. The boy was sitting bolt upright in his bed, knees to his chest. He didn't like how abruptly I had ended that.

"It's too late to be worrying about all of this," I whispered to him, too quietly for Pluto to hear. "It's bedtime."

"Pika." He refused to budge. "Chuu."

I heaved a heavy sigh. Sleep would have been wonderful, especially now that Kent let us rest long enough to stay the night.

"If it'll make you feel better, kid, take Kent's pillow for the night and sleep with it. Not like he's going to use it." That was all I was willing to offer by way of comfort.

Pluto didn't move at first. Then, I heard the mattress shift as he slowly got up. "...Thanks." The single word was almost too soft to hear. "Should I wake him?"

"Nah. It's no skin off our bones if he wakes up in the morning with a sore neck." Pikachu climbed on my stomach and settled down for the night again, satisfied with me. I scratched his ear, pulling the covers back over us.

The next morning, I woke to see Pluto looking even more tired than before, and Kent, trying to rub the kinks out of his own neck after sleeping on his laptop.

* * *

**AOF: Here you go, Ryan, you zygote.**


	30. Fly From the Nest

**AOF: The only possible explanation I have for this chapter taking so long to write is that I am a very lazy honors student. Sorry, y'all, hopefully the length of this chapter can make up for me being a bit of a lil shit.**

* * *

_Astro._

_The Next Morning _

_Thwack._

I struck the Boppoyama with all the force I could muster, grunting as the hit landed. I let the bone I forged out of my own aura disappear, so I could catch my breath.

Max had called the previous night, crying, to tell his sister about Cassie. Naturally, I was furious when I heard what had happened; I hadn't been able to sleep the whole night.

To get my mind off of things, I pulled out a few of the Boppoyama dolls Max had gotten for me from Hoenn, to train and blow off steam. These were kind of cheaply made, because a 14 year old can only spend so much money on souvenirs, but they were at least good enough to do the job.

At 5 in the morning, I was still standing in the bedroom Amber had set up for me, panting and beating a poor innocent training doll to death.

_Thwack._ A harder hit, at the seams, seemed to do more damage. My goal was to burst these bastards into pieces, because Max can always import more. (As a side note, I have a very warped sense of money.)

"I'm pretty sure Dee's mom can hear you next door." A glance at the mirror hanging from the wall showed Amber leaning against the doorway, still in her pajamas.

I let out a low chuckle, forming another bone from my aura to continue training. "So what?" I slammed it into the seams again, hoping I was close. This was my third hour working on this Boppoyama; the previous one had taken only two, but I knew I was starting to tire out.

_"'So what'?_" Amber was irritated, to say the least. "When did you go to sleep?!"

"Didn't. I'm-_urgh!-_mad as hell." One stitch broke. Another blow broke another stitch. "You think _I_ would have let that punk bastard-_rragh!-_steal Cassie?!"

"Astro, _I know_ you feel frustrated staying home and not being able to do these things anymore. But-well, what good will _training_ do for you?"

"I-rraugh!" I put more force behind this blow, and heard at least three more stitches pop. "I want you to let me go with Dee."

Amber's scoff was visible through the mirror. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." I swung again, losing my concentration and swinging right over the Boppoyama's head. "Damn. Put me in a new pokeball, and send me to Dee to travel with them."

"Astro, why on _earth _would-?"

"I'm tired of being...of being cooped up in here!" A more focused strike hit the target once again, and it was clear to see the deed was almost done. "I've been in Twinleaf Town for _years,_ Amber, I can't _live_ like this!"

_Thwaaack!_

One more strike, the final blow, and the final few stitches popped easily. White stuffing came falling out of the training doll, and littered the floor.

I dissolved my weapon once more, turning to look Amber in the eye. She had uncrossed her arms, letting them hang at her sides as she stared, surprised, at me. I glared back, breathing hard, my muscles sore.

"Azzy..."

"Don't you 'Azzy' me." My voice was firm. "I'm not a little Riolu anymore. I can't just stay at home and let myself become so domesticated again." It had been such a long time since I had been so forceful with Amber.

She had, of course, been a little shaken when I had run away. That had been my first act of defiance; I had snuck out the door when Barry and Max had rushed out, and Amber had been so busy talking with the guys that she hadn't noticed. I just couldn't rest easy, knowing Team Galactic could still be alive and running.

"...Astro..." Maybe it was a little early in the morning for me to be a brat. But, I knew Dee would only be at the Pokemon Center until 6, so I had to act fast. Otherwise, it was anyone's guess when she would be in Eterna City.

"Yeah?" Amber was having trouble deciding. I could sense the hesitation and the fear coming from her in waves. "I won't leave again," I swore, trying to soften the harsh blow I had just dealt her. "Not unless you say I can. I couldn't do that to you again."

Amber nodded. "I know, I know, I just..." She crossed her arms again, looking away from me. "You really, _really_ want to go with Dee?" Amber took her lip between her teeth, nervously biting it. "I thought you two hated each other."

A little too enthusiastically, I nodded, my aura sensors bobbing wildly from my ears like dangly earrings. "As long as she'll have me, definitely! I don't wanna be far away from Daisy until I know she's safe!"

If it weren't for the fact that Max is an asshole, I would have wanted Amber to send me with him. Besides, Dee at least had the capacity to understand how I felt; she was fiercely protective of Barry, and they weren't even blood.

Finally, Amber sighed out, "If you want to, Astro...I'll talk to Dee-Dee about it. B-But, you don't step a toe out of line, g-got it?"

_Natalie._

_Several Hours Later._

"Nattie...Nattie, wake up, breakfast is ready."

The next morning, I woke up in Katie's bed, in Katie's Jigglypuff pajamas, in Katie's room, with Katie sitting at the edge of the bed and shaking my shoulder. It was sort of disorienting; it had been a few weeks since I had even _seen_ a real bedroom. My sleepy mind had to catch up with my eyes.

After we went grocery shopping with Katie, Maggie had gone to the Pokemon Center to rent a room and get some sleep, and Katie offered for me and Drew to stay at the house she was staying at...by then, we'd been so tired, we would have agreed to anything. The house's owner hadn't been home yet, and I went right to bed when we got there...

"What's for breakfast?" I asked sleepily, stretching and yawning. I looked around and saw my bag wasn't on the floor, and immediately added, "Where's my stuff?"

"Oh, I put your clothes in to wash...God, traveling must be so messy. Almost all your shirts were _disgustingly_ dirty." Katie stood up from the bed, walking over to the mirror on her dresser to brush her hair. "Drew put his own clothes in, after yours...it's already 9, Nattie, your friends must be looking for you!"

I couldn't stop looking at that mirror. Something was off. There was a scratch in the mirror...it looked almost in the shape of a "G". And the walls seemed off, too...they were painted green, when Katie hates the color. Almost as if this weren't her room at all...

The chilling train of thought came to a screeching halt as I heard voices downstairs. Guys' voices. That weren't Drew's voice, or Aaron's...

"Katie, tell me who owns this house." Childish fear woke me up quickly, and I started to locate my stuff around the room. Lenny slept in a windowsill, my shoes were at the foot of the bed...

At first, my cousin gave no answer. She continued brushing her hair, paying me no mind. I got up out of bed, starting to feel angry.

"Katelynn!" I barked, careful to keep it low enough to not alert those downstairs.

Finally, Katie laughed. It was a bit of a harsh sound to me, almost a mocking laugh. Lenny raised his head at the windowsill, stirring awake at our voices.

"That was fast," Katie mused. "I thought you wouldn't figure it out 'til we were downstairs...lord, that dumb boy must be teaching you something."

This house belonged to Grampa. There was no mistaking it. Our grandfather, Professor Oak...he stayed in it whenever he needed to meet with Professor Rowan, and when we were little, he would sometimes take me or Gary...that explained the scratch on the mirror, and the wall paint.

"You tricked me, Katie!" I wished I would have listened to Drew and gone with Maggie. I was practically trapped.

There was no way I could face Grampa...not without Aaron. I could never explain what Aaron tried explaining to me, not the way that he could...all I could think about was that argument, and me shouting at Grampa. I couldn't possibly face him again; not yet, after everything I'd said.

Katie shrugged. "Enough shit is going on with our family without one of the babies throwing a tantrum," She replied lazily, pulling her hair up in a short, high ponytail. "Mom's already pissed Daddy let Carlisle go off on his own, not to mention everything with Gary."

"But, Katie, I can't-I can't explain everything to Grampa." My heart beat light and fast in fear. "There's no way. I need Aaron, b-but I can't...I don't know where he lives."

"This has _nothing_ to do with him! This has to do with _you_, Nattie, and _your_ family." Katie finally turned to face me, rolling her eyes. "Let the rest come in later, but you_ have_ to apologize to him and let it move on."

"I can't just-" I spotted my shoes again, in the mirror. I went and slipped them on, and called for Lenny, picking him up. "I won't. I swear, I'll just leave this house, I'll just _leave_ Drew and all of my stuff!"

Before I got to the door, Katie grabbed my arm. "What, you're just gonna run away again, like a coward?! Jesus, Nattie, _grow up!_"

I turned on my heel at that word, nearly biting my tongue. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me! You're a coward, Natalie, and a damn stubborn one, too!" Katie was getting even angrier than I was. "Our whole family is in chaos, and you think that all that matters is whether you'll be _grounded?_ That's selfish!"

"Who the hell are you to call me anything?!" I demanded. Lenny growled lowly at her. "What are you even talking about, the family in chaos?"

Katie glared at my Sandshrew. "Look, your pokemon is standing up for yourself better than you are! Nattie, did you know that _Grandma_ came asking around for you? Can you imagine how bad it must have hurt Grandpa Sam, for her to finally come and ask about the grandchildren she should have helped him raise?! When one of them had just _died,_ and the youngest _ran away?!_"

I hadn't seen Grandma Aggie in a long time. After Mom and Dad died, Grandma left, because she blamed Grampa for their death...I knew she was a bitter old woman, but Grampa still told me it came from a place of love.

In the heat of the moment, Katie was getting red in the face from yelling at me. I had never seen her so mad, and it only made Lenny more agitated. He knew who she was, but he took her as a threat to me...

"Just who the hell do you think you are, Nata-?!" Finally, Katie poked me in the shoulder to taunt me, and Lenny would not tolerate it. He swiped at her hand with his claws, and slashed her.

Katie yelped out in pain, drawing her hand back and holding it to her chest. She lost all her bravado, and realized what had just happened.

I had never been more terrified. "Katie...oh...my God, Katie, I'm so sorry, please don't-!"

"G-Grandpa Saaaam!" Katie wailed, her voice a little tearful. "Traaaacey!"

I took a few steps back, setting Lenny on the bed. He looked at the little bit of blood on his paw, confused if he had done something wrong.

Taking no time, Tracey and Grampa burst into the bedroom, both still in pajamas. They may have already been waiting. Grampa froze at the scene in front of him, probably shocked by me and trying to gather what had happened, but Tracey took action immediately and went to Katie.

"Katie, what happened?!" She let him see her hand, wincing in pain as he took it.

Grampa finally connected the dots, seeing Lenny. "_Natalie!_" He sounded furious at me, for just another reason that terrified me.

This was going all wrong. I had never wanted Grampa angry at me, but now he was, for so many reasons...I wanted to scream, or cry, or just _run._

"G-Grandpa...please, please don't yell at her," Katie begged. "It-gah-it wasn't her fault. I did plenty of yelling at her for you, and Lenny thought I was threatening her...he was only trying to _protect_ Nattie. She would _never_ ask him to attack anyone."

That part was definitely true. I would never order Lenny to attack a human being, or a pokemon that wasn't attacking us...Grandpa's facial features relaxed at Katie's plea.

For a beat, the room was quiet and tense. Then, Tracey sighed, murmuring, "Katie, let's go in the bathroom...this is a nasty scratch. I'm gonna need a first aid kit."

"Yeah. Definitely." The two of them high-tailed it out of there, and fast, and left me and Grampa to either make up or fight again. Lenny trailed behind, worried he had really hurt Katie.

Katie's testimony seemed to have calmed him, at least a little. Grampa did look like he had been under so much stress, just like my cousins had tried to tell me...heavy bags hung under his dark eyes, and I could have sworn he had lost a little hair in the few weeks since I had run away.

I'd tried to plan my big coming home speech before, even if it had been intended further down the road. How I really was growing up, I wasn't the little baby anymore, I wanted to travel where I wanted and try and find my brother when nobody else could...

...but, nothing came to me. Grampa's eyes softened at seeing my hesitation, and I tried to hold my tears back, to not look like a scared little child.

_Grampa isn't angry, not anymore. He never was...he really does still love me._

"Grampa!" I ran at him and clung to his side, crying into his nightshirt. I felt like such a baby for crying, just like Katie had told me to grow up, but Grampa was the only parent I had ever known. I had hated the tension and the silence between us. "Grampa, I-I'm so, so sorry I yelled at you! Please tell me you aren't mad that I ran away to look for Gary!"

An arm wrapped around my shoulders, and Grampa chuckled quietly. "Of course I'm not mad, Nattie," He assured me gently. "I never was, it was just such a shock for you to throw a tantrum right there in the lab. It wasn't only you that I wanted to keep away from Sinnoh, I _specifically_ asked Roy if he'd leave his children at home, for just this once...but, Nattie, what you told me before you ran out-"

"I know." I had managed to stop the melodramatic waterworks, still sniffling, and stepped away to look up at Grampa. "I know, I sounded crazy. Drew still thinks I'm crazy. But, Aaron-you remember Aaron, right?-he's got a lot clearer picture of it than I do. Besides, they haven't found a body yet, have they?"

Just using the word "body" to describe Gary felt...morbid. Grampa was in a shock a second before answering, "...No."

I nodded. "Then, there's nothing saying Gary can't be somewhere out there, in the north of the region! Right?"

Grampa shook his head, sighing. "Lord, at least you have the enthusiasm for it...come downstairs, Tracey already made breakfast. I want to hear about what's been happening with you and the boys, and hear about this Aaron. Maybe we can even manage to smoke your little boyfriend out of the room he's holed himself in..."

"_Graampaa!_"


	31. Toxic Coworkers

_Kenta._

_30 Minutes Later._

"No, we-_we are_ _lost,_ Kent."

"No, I don't think so. We only have so little precious daylight to travel by, Col, so even if you were right, being lost is better than being stationary."

With a sore neck that Col lectured me for in the morning, me and my bleary-eyed companions ventured out at daybreak, and found the Eterna Forest by the time Natalie made up with her grandfather.

Pluto was already tired, unaccustomed to traveling after having been gone from the world so long, so I let out my Gogoat to give him a ride. Gogoat was completely understanding, and Pluto latched onto him right away.

For the second time that morning, we passed by a rock heavily coated in moss. Col pointed to it, insisting, "You see that? We _just_ saw that rock, Kent-!"

"There's a lot of rocks with moss on them, Col, so I don't think-"

"But none of them are as big as _that_ one!" That Pikachu of his started sparking off in my periphera vision l as I irritated his trainer, and I laughed at the two of them.

Behind the two of us, Pluto snickered. "Are you two...seriously arguing about _rocks_?"

Against my better judgement, I changed the course we followed through the forest, and the available sunlight diminished as we went deeper within the forest and the treetops grew more overgrown.

Small pokemon were scattered around the bases of tree trunks, and in the trees themselves. Some, I recognized the species; Wurmple, Beautifly, Buneary, even a few Caterpie and Weedle...none of the 'dangerous poison-types' Nurse Joy had warned me of as I checked us out of the Pokemon Center.

Being a reporter, I've never much liked forested areas...especially with the bad signal I could get sometimes, with as far as I travel from home. All I could worry about were all of the emails and missed calls I must have been recieving from my boss, not to mention the looming possibility of Aaron Wilkerson trying to contact me; I was very eager to meet the man, after several months of emails, and didn't want to waste ti-

"..._Kent._" Col grabbed my shoulder, and roughly yanked me back towards him. "Could you pay a _little_ attention, for just a sec?"

"Huh? What's up?" He must have been speaking while I was thinking.

"Look..." He lifted his arm, pointing into some leafy tree branches, "...up in that tree." Something about his voice told me he wasn't just sightseeing.

We were near an old, abandoned house(which is never a good thing), named "Old Chateau" by a sign, with some leafier trees out front than the others. It looked like Col pointed at nothing if you looked directly into the tree branches, but near the bottom of them, were some...Beedrill. Staring rather threateningly at the three of us, as if we weren't welcome in their space.

_Now _I could see the problem. Those Beedrill looked ready to attack...

Slowly, I slipped my backpack off and slid it to the ground, then my laptop bag followed suit. I tried not to make any sudden movements, not letting my eyes leave the glaring red ones above me.

"What are those?" Pluto whispered.

"Beedrill," Col and I both whispered back. I added, "Some of the...more territorial bug-type pokemon. Gogoat, stand back, and protect Pluto."

Gogoat made a rumbling sound in his throat, and shuffled backwards a step or two. The Beedrill tensed up, holding up their stingers defensively. I glanced back, just for a moment, and Pluto was completely motionless straddling my pokemon's back.

With a shaking hand, I slowly pulled a pokeball from my belt, pressing the button with my thumb to maximize it. "Col, you might wanna stand back, too." I just couldn't stand bug types; the thought of confronting these Beedrill made my skun crawl.

Col raised an eyebrow at me. "Why?" He challenged. "I can battle, too, Ke-"

He made a sudden arm movement, and that was the straw that broke the Numel's back. One Beedrill shot out the of tree, stingers pointing out to attack him, and the others quickly followed.

Without a moment's hesitation, I shoved Col with all my strength, to get him out of the line of fire. "_Col!_ Watch out!" If I hadn't have reacted so quickly, Col could have been shish kebobed.

"**_Kent?!_**" Pikachu leaped from his trainer's shoulder, and Pluto yelped my name loudly as Col and I tumbled onto the ground, me landing on him. "Guys!"

I felt the fabric of my jacket and shirt rip as Beedrill tore through, the skin on my right flank being scraped by the sheer force of it. I wasn't run through with the stinger, I had moved too fast for that, but the poisonous tip had grazed my skin deep enough to hurt me.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Col had Pikachu fight off the Beedrill, and in just one or two quick attacks, had them all scared off. "Kent, get off of me." He rolled me off of him, landing on my side, and I held back a curse as pain shot up my spine.

"Col, did you...gah," I groaned, sitting up halfway. I covered the wound with my hand as I hunched over, my fingernails digging into my palms as I bit back another stream of swears. "You're not hurt, right, Col?"

"No...?" He arched his eyebrow in confusion as he saw me on the ground, Pikachu hopping back up onto his shoulder. "Kent, get up already, you..."

I moved my hand, to brace against the ground as I stood up, and it left a bloody print in the grass. Both Col and Pluto stared, then Col looked me over and saw the fresh blood on my jacket. Maybe the wound wasn't as superficial as I first thought.

"...Col, my bag," I finally managed to spit out. I hadn't even managed to get myself off the ground. My head swam and I closed my eyes as I quietly added, "Get an a-antidote."

"Kent!" Pluto got off of Gogoat as fast as he could, almost losing his balance in his rush to me. "Did that...that...pokemon actually hit you?!"

Finally over the initial shock, Col barked, "What does it look like?" I heard him pull my overstuffed backpack over to him and unzip the small pockets first.

I hung my head, trying to steady my breathing. My chest was already starting to feel tight, my breath coming out in short, rushed pants. The longer Col rummaged through my belongings, the more anxious I felt.

"B-Beedrill poison is fast-acting, I think," I murmured, trying to recall the things I had learned in the Santalune Forest in Kalos. "Almost instantaneous in its Mega forme, but in its normal forme..." The pain in my side throbbed with my skipping heartbeat, and my breath hitched in my throat. I could already feel it spreading, and quick.

"In its...normal forme?" Pluto echoed, his voice heavy with concern and confusion. Col muttered to himself, still rummaging for medicine.

"I give it...thirty minutes. Absolute maximum." Col let out a frustrated groan at my last statement, and I politely asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Did you forget to stock up on medicine?" Col's voice was tight and tense. When I hesitated to answer, he added, "_Kent?_"

"We didn't use almost any on the way up here, aside from...from that...Lucario," I insisted. "I stocked up in Sandgem."

"But you didn't get any _antidotes?_" His voice rose higher than I had ever heard. "Kent, you idiot!"

"Don't yell at me! You know we've been rushing around!" I had to resist the urge to curl in on myself. "B-Berries...are there any berries around here?" A Pecha berry likely wouldn't rid the poison from my body, but it could at least help me with the worst of it until I could see Nurse Joy in Eterna.

I opened my eyes, and saw Col looking around us. "Uhm...all I see are Oran berries," He reported. "Those wouldn't do much for the poison. And you said thirty minutes at the most until you're done for, so there's no time to go searching for any...dammit, Kent, you couldn't stop to think about stocking up on medicine?"

I sighed softly, hanging my head down again. There was nothing in my bag we could use, nothing close enough nearby to help...seconds ticked by in my head, and the Beedrill's poison felt like it boiled the blood in my veins. The wound in my side ached, the bleeding nothing to be concerned about, but the risk of infection...

"Kent...didn't you call that other Pokemon Center last night?" Pluto's voice was shaky and uncertain. When I didn't answer, he added, "Yeah, you did...you got that number and called to make sure that dude got into town just fine."

Col and I both froze at the memory. "Pluto...what did you just say?" Col tapped my shoulder. "Kent, stay awake."

"I am!"

"Kent called that Pokemon Center, on his Pokegear," Pluto insisted, and I felt his hand fall on my shoulder. "I know he did, because that guy's mom was the one that answered the phone!"

"C-Col, get my Pokegear," I instructed. "Th-the gym leader of Eterna City, sh-she...they can send her. The c-city's close by the forest..."

"I'm on it." Col got back into my backpack, and as he zipped it back up after retrieving my Pokegear, he asked, "Pluto, are you _sure_ this is what Kent used?"

"Yes, I'm sure! It's blue, ain't it?" His childish reaction made me chuckle lowly, and a pain shot through my stomach like an arrow.

The Pokegear beeped with each number Col punched as he searched my call history, murmuring to himself. Then, he asked, "Hello? Is this the Eterna City Pokemon Center? There's a-yes, this is the number of the man from last night. There's been an accident, he's been hurt in the Eterna Forest...in front of the Old Chateau..."

The tightness in my chest loosened by just a fraction with each breath he took explaining what happened, but my uneasiness never faded. I tried not to hyperventilate. Probably not knowing what else to do, Pluto awkwardly rubbed small circles in my shoulder blade to comfort me, and I felt Gogoat nuzzle my hair.

My voice breaking, I hoarsely whispered, "Guys, don't let me die."

_Aaron._

_At Aaron's House._

_Several Minutes Later._

When I woke up, I wasn't sure if my headache was due to a tension headache, a hangover, or Dee screaming at me from the doorway.

"_Wilkerson! _Get your _slimy, _lazy ass up and answer me!"

Groaning, I sat up in bed, scratching my scalp. Dee had just thrown an empty pokeball at me, but thankfully, it only hit the wall. "I didn't hear the question." Leafeon cooed at the foot of the bed, and I leaned over to scratch her head.

The kids must have already been playing at the gym, or else Dee wouldn't have been cussing so loudly. She was red in the face from shouting, and had even unzipped her camo jacket so she could berate me without overheating.

"Where is Barry?!" Dee demanded, finally marching in my bedroom. She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me up to stand in front of her. "Him and Max were with you, and now he's not answering his Pokegear! _And why does your breath smell like liquor?!_"

If I didn't answer, there was a very real risk of being punched in the face. Sighing, I droned on in a monotone voice, "Max and Barry split before we left Jubilife City. They claimed to want to go to the Fuego Ironworks, but that doesn't mean they really did. Last night when I got home, Mom pulled out some wine after dinner and had me fill her in on what I'm doing back here. Are you happy?"

It didn't take an idiot to see how much Barry going rogue worried Dee. The boy was flighty and hotheaded enough without adding his idiot best friend in the mix, and then there was the business with Team Galactic...Max was still angry enough as is, so with Team Galactic lurking around and Barry hanging around to egg him on...

Yikes.

"Ugh. You're useless." Dee let go of my shirt, and pushed me back on the bed. "Where are the kids?"

"Michelle's at the Pokemon Center with that Maggie girl, but I dunno where Nattie's cousin dragged her and Drew." I sat up again, yawning. "Hand me a shirt and pants, would you?"

Dee handed me my clothes, and I got dressed quickly as she left to go downstairs. As I laced up my shoes, my Pokegear rang, and I put it on speaker.

"Aaron!" It was...Mom? And she sounded really upset. "Aaron, honey, you've got to come down to the Pokemon Center. There's been an accident-"

My heart stopped. "Kyndra, or Jason?" I asked, in a calm voice. Mom wouldn't have called me from work unless one of the kids were hurt. Scraped knees and broken arms were already running through my mind.

"It wasn't your brother or sister," Mom assured me. I already felt loads better. "But, Aaron, there's a man that's been calling for you, he just had a bad poisoning incident over by the Old Cha-"

"The Old Chateau?!" _Oh, God, Kynie was playing there just yesterday. I always knew that place was bad news._

"Yes! And they're demanding to see you as soon as possible! Aaron, how do you _know_ these people?"

With everything going on, I had completely forgotten Kent. Finally tying the last knot in my shoelaces, I slowly asked, "What was his name, Mom?"

"Kenta Landry, I believe. His friend said he's from-" Mom paused a moment. "Aaron, I've got to go, Gardenia's helping bring him in right now. _Please _hurry."

I couldn't help grinning as I answered, "Yes, ma'am." I hung up the Pokegear, throwing it on the bed. I glanced behind me, at Leafeon, as I reached in my nightstand for my glasses case.

"Ready for a little adventure, girl?" I asked happily. "Wanna go visit Mama?"

Leafeon gasped, yipping in excitement. "Leeeaaaf!" She hopped off the bed, ready and raring to go.

We trotted down the stairs together, and I filled Dee in with the scantest details as we all left out the kitchen door.


	32. Back At It Again?

_Carlisle._

_Outside the Eterna City Gym._

"Dan! Buddy!"

"_Daaannnnny!"_

While meeting them at the Eterna gym, I managed to be snubbed by not just my cousin(and her dumb friend), but also my own _sister, _in favor of Dan. Katie nearly mauled the poor guy in a bear hug, while Drew and Nattie were tearing her off to see him. Katie and Nattie had their pokemon with them, and at least Jay had the decency to chirp and tap my head in some kind of greeting.

"What does a guy have to _do_ to get some recognition?" I griped, leaning again the door of the gym. We had that Lucario with us, Astro, and he was just laughing his head off at me.

Katie stuck her tongue out. "Sorry, Car, but a lady doesn't forget her hero." She finally pulled away from Dan, rubbing her thumb along the top of his cheek, and he flinched away. "Ohh...does it still hurt?"

"Get out of my way, Katie!" Drew all but shoved Katie out of the way so he could see what she was talking about.

The scratch Purugly had left on him in Jubilife had already finished healing, but left one long, white horizontal scar along the top of his cheek that wasn't going to heal. It was easy enough to see on his dark face, and even more obvious after all of Katie's affection left him a blushing mess. Drew scowled as he saw it, shaking his head.

"Well...it could be worse," He grumbled disapprovingly.

Katie jerked my shoulder, and I turned my attention to her. She had a gray case in her hand.

"Car, Daddy wanted me to give you these," She told me. I could already hear that bossy tone. "He had to get them expedited here, so don't get in any more fights!"

"I'm _so_ sorry that I got beat up to try and help you," I apologized dryly, taking the glasses case. "I'll try to stop helping you from now on."

"Well, don't put it that way! You make me sound so...ungrateful!"

"Your _savior, _Dan, would've never come for you if I hadn't have gotten myself kicked out, so yeah, you do sound a little ungrateful." I calmly slipped my new glasses on, grateful for the opportunity to see clearly again. "But...thanks for bringing these." They were the same kind of frames I had before, gold wire-rim glasses, with new lenses to replace the old smashed ones.

Just as Katie was opening her mouth to continue the fight, Astro blurted out, "Don't you say another word. Where's my Mitchie, why's there only you losers?"

Katie was absolutely red in the face in outrage. Nattie cleared her throat. "Umm...her and Maggie promised to meet us here. It should be just a minute, Maggie said Michelle was almost done with her hair."

"Who's 'Maggie'? Why's she with Michelle?"

He continued with the third-degree, spitting out rapid fire questions until the moment Michelle and Maggie came bounding up. Astro picked Michelle up off the ground and hugged her, laughing and showing more emotion than I'd yet seen from him.

"Hahaha! There's my girl Michelle!"

"Aaaa! Lemme down, lemme down, Azzy! What are you _doing_ here?" Michelle was laughing and giggling right along with him, happy to see him.

After Astro told Michelle why he was there, and Maggie got over the shock of a talking pokemon(really overrated, honestly, Amber deserves a medal of honor for raising him), we just sort of waited for the gym to open. There was something that had happened and there was a note on the door, but the gym leader would be back within an hour.

While we waited, there was a burning question on my mind. "...so, Katie...you took Nattie to the house?"

Nattie shook her head, giggling. "You don't have to hide it, Carlisle. I spent the night and Katie made me talk to Grampa this morning." In her arms, Lenny looked...a little pouty while she talked.

"You really did? You smoothed things over with Grandpa Sam?" News spread fast in the branches of the Oak family tree, so my dad had been one of the first to know about Nattie running off to Sinnoh. Grandpa had even asked him not to take me and Katie to Sinnoh with him, but we always tagged along on these kinds of little business trips. It was certainly worth disobeying our grandfather.

Besides...after the gloom of Gary's memorial, we desperately needed a fun trip. Even if my trip would be longer than Katie's.

It wasn't too long until a girl showed up, who could only be the gym leader. She had brown hair in a cute undercut, wearing a small green poncho and black undershirt with long orange shorts. Couldn't have been more than a year or two older than my sister.

"Hey! Are all of you here for a gym battle?" She asked, unlocking the door. "I'm Gardenia, the Eterna City gym leader. So sorry about the wait, I had to help with an emergency..."

Gardenia tore off the note that was taped to the front door, and found a second, smaller note taped underneath. She snatched up the note, alarmed, and read it. The smile on her face fell quickly.

"...It's Team Galactic, isn't it." There was no question in Astro's voice. It was obvious to him that it was. "...Gardenia? I'm right, aren't I?"

The shock on her face was easy to read. "It's...the former gym leader's brother and sister. I watch them for their mom. They were caught crawling around Team Galactic's hide out...and they're gonna be 'punished' if someone doesn't come get them."

Astro was quick. He snatched the paper from her hands. "Let me see that!"

"Oh no! The former gym leader...that's _Aaron!_" It must have been that man that was with Nattie and them before.

There was a sense of panic among us as Astro scanned the note. I glanced over his shoulder, trying to read.

"'...if you don't want them to suffer for _his_ meddling...'" Astro read aloud, meaning Aaron. "'Then...'" He trailed off with a snarl. "Oh, _hell no!_" The paper was crunched in his paws. "This is _unacceptable!_"

"What're we gonna do?" Drew asked, looking ready to fight.

"Azzy...?" Michelle watched Astro, trembling with rage, with a fearful look in her eyes. "St-stay calm, Azzy..."

Dan shuffled around uncomfortably, looking around at all of his friends in a panic with an equally panicked look. He was even shaking a little. I patted his shoulder, not sure what else to do to calm him.

It felt like forever before Maggie clapped her hands, loudly, loud enough to cut through the noise.

_"Quiet!"_" She shouted. "Quiet, all of you, dammit!"

All eyes fell on the coordinator. Maggie pointed to Gardenia.

"Gardenia, you've got a job to do! You stay at the gym, while all of us go after those two kids. We can get the job done, and I've got a grudge to settle with those damn dirty crooks!"

None of us actually agreed before Maggie volunteered us. But, Katie chimed in, "I like this girl's style! Nattie, Car, both of you are in."

"Hmph...we're not gonna get left out, Dan, are we?" Drew nudged his brother, grinning, and Dan returned a shaky smile.

It didn't take very much convincing before the seven of us(plus Astro) were all in.

_Dan._

Gardenia directed us towards a seemingly abandoned business building in the north of town where it was suspected they were hiding, surrounded by thick bushes. There weren't many places Team Galactic could really hide(if they ever actually tried to...), and Gardenia claimed the building had been empty for the better part of ten years.

"Dan, Ducky?" Nattie asked, eyeing the thick bushes barring us.

I nodded, throwing out Ducky's pokeball and hooking my pinkies in my mouth to whistle for him.

"_Faarrrrr_-fetched!" Ducky slashed the bushes down with his leek without a hitch, and I clapped for him. What a good little duck!

"Alright, guys, move already." Astro urged us to head for the rusted metal doors, only to find out they were locked. He got ready to attack the doors, just like last time, eyes closed, palms open...

"_Astro, **no!**_" Michelle, Drew, Nattie, _and _Carlisle all screamed for him to stop, and Michelle even grabbed him by the arms. "Stop!"

"What the-**_hell_**-is your problem?!"

"Let Lenny pick the lock, _let Lenny pick the lock!_" Nattie begged.

Astro's rampage in Jubilife City was obviously still fresh on everyone's minds. Astro was...honestly, kind of terrifying, even if he was kinda dumb. He seemed angrier than anyone else about all of this Team Galactic nonsense...and I really didn't want to see him get any angrier.

Lenny was quick as ever to pick locks. We were creeping inside before we knew it, Astro taking the lead.

There was...an unsettling lack of any grunts on the first floor. Of _anybody _on the first floor; not even any lights were on. There was a reception desk and a staircase leading up to the upper floors...but not anything else. It was like how Gardenia had told us...

"...Deserted." Michelle looked around. "Not even any lights on..."

"It's almost creepy," Maggie agreed, arms crossed.

I looked over my shoulder, at Drew, but he was already thinking. None of had the courage to ask what to do next, because none of us had the answer.

"...It's almost _bullshit, _is what it is."

Astro, however, had some ideas, at least. He walked out in the middle of the floor, looking around.

Michelle squeaked at his grumbled complaint. "Azzy! You're not supposed to say that!"

"What makes you think it's _bullshit, _tough guy?" Katie thundered back at him. "Look at this place! It-"

"-Was _abandoned._" Astro closed his eyes, holding his arms out and crossing his paws together at the wrists. "It _was._"

"What good does repeating facts do?" Drew challenged him. "You can't just call bull on whatever you want."

"I actually make a habit out of it, little man."

Everyone's arguments fell on deaf ears. Astro's eyes were closed, teeth grit together and lips pulled back in a snarl. That had to mean something was going on that he didn't like.

"Guys..." Over Katie, Drew, and Maggie, I couldn't be heard. They weren't paying attention. They didn't notice Astro was getting _really pissed_, and I had to tell them. "Guys...!"

I turned to my left. Carlisle shrugged at me, knowing it was a losing battle. On my right was Nattie. I tugged at her sleeve, holding my fingers at my throat and mouthing the word "help". I'd never be able to shout like her.

Nattie caught on right away. She nodded quickly and hollered, " Guys! Shut up! It's Dan, Dan's trying to-!"

**_"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!"_**

Astro was angry. The whites of his red eyes were tinged almost blue, teeth most definitely bared at us in a snarl. The black sensors at the sides of his head floated up in the air around him.

"Shut up, shut your damn mouths already!" He barked out at us. "No one could _focus_ with so much damn noise! I've got a _migraine _and I'm still tryin' to find those kids! What the hell are _you_ doing?!" His eyes were right on me.

You could hear a pin drop after his tantrum. My breath caught in my throat, painful, almost a lump; shouting and arguing always made me feel weak, and Astro could strike the fear of God into a man's heart. I grabbed at Nattie's sleeve again, and felt Drew grab my shoulder, to reassure me.

A loud sob rang out in the quiet room. It wasn't me, thank God.

Tears welled up in Michelle's big blue eyes, face pale as a sheet but quickly flushing red as she wiped her own tears away. She held her hand to her mouth, trying to cover her shuddering breaths and pretend she wasn't crying. Maggie tried to put her arms around her, but Michelle shrugged her off, glaring at Astro.

"Stop...stop yelling all the time, because of _them! _You're no better than _Max!_" There was venom in her words with that comparison. She wasn't frightened, or upset; _she _was _pissed._

Quick, before anyone could stop her, Michelle put her hands at Astro's chest and shoved him. Hard. Hard enough to make him stagger backwards, lose his balance and fall back on his tail, out of her way as she sprinted to the stairway and upstairs!

After missing a beat, Astro sprang right back up. "_Mitchie! No! _There's people upstairs!" He followed after her. "Michelle!"

"After her!" Drew and Maggie hollered, both bolting for the stairs. We all followed suit, hot on Michelle's tail.

_Aaron._

_Eterna City Pokemon Center._

"So...he'll be okay?"

"It looks that way. Not sure about _this_ one, though."

I met Col and Pluto at the Pokemon Center. Col was still filling out paperwork, muttering out answers to the questions I asked. Dee had given up on me and went on a search for the kids(i.e., Michelle).

Pluto, however, looked really shook up.

I remembered him from Floaroma Town, remembered him mentioning his memory issues and I remembered how genuinely confused he had been about his coworker stealing Cassie and Treecko.

Pluto had been cracking jokes the first time we met, all smiles and sass, but it was easy to see now that it was all an act. Pluto now was wearing faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt that was far too big, and it was more obvious how pale he was when he was wearing such dark clothes. He was withdrawn and quiet, deep in thought. He stared straight ahead as he sat rigid next to Col, trembling a little.

"...Hey. Are you alright?" I asked, trying to get a reaction out of him.

My question was ignored. Pluto shook his head, lips pursed, and murmured something to himself.

"Pluto?" There was an edge to Col's voice, but he didn't snap at Pluto. "Are you saying something?"

"I'm...sorry." Pluto's voice was barely a whisper. "Aaron, right?"

"Uh-huh...but, uh, what are you sorry for?"

"Those...pokemon." Pluto swallowed hard, avoiding looking me in the eyes. "That were taken from your friends. You didn't get them back...did you?"

That seemed like an obvious question. "No," I answered. "They evacuated the whole building. Max was so furious he went barreling straight in and gave them time to leave."

"And that...girl..." He swallowed again, and I saw he was clenching his fists in his lap. "My boss-Commander Mars-sh-she ordered me to try to take that girl with us. I-I couldn't do it-I threw her down-I'm sorry, I caused you all a lot of grief-"

"Pluto, wait, slow down!" I turned towards him in my chair. "That girl...Michelle?"

"Sh-she was so scared." Pluto's voice shook, as well as his hands. "I'm sorry, I just...I've felt so _bad, _ever since you arrived here, b-because everything that happened..."

"Pluto!" He was hardly even making sense. "Pluto, you're making a big deal out of nothing, it's not so important any more-"

"What is he _talking_ about?" Col asked, interrupting me. "Pluto? What's this about a girl?"

Pluto was quiet again. But he was still shaking. He was so _upset, _you could almost see an aura of gloom around him. He was damn near almost in tears.

"God dammit." Pluto wiped at his eyes, voice breaking. "God...I'm sorry."

Col didn't seem to know what to do with Pluto, no more than I did. I couldn't understand why _he _was so worked up about this. Nothing had been his fault.

"Col Leech? Aaron? Mister Landry wants to see-" My mother came from the back of the Pokemon Center, and her eyes fell right on Pluto as he sniffled and rubbed away tears. She nearly gasped when she saw him. "Oh my goodness."

_Mom hates seeing kids upset. Shit. _"It, uh, it's something else, Mom. He'll be okay."

"He's also going to be coming with us," Col informed her. "Kent's going to be _thrilled_ to hear about this...come on, Pluto, Kent wants to see us."

Col led Pluto by the arm, only half forceful, while my mom lead us down the hall to Kent.

_Kent._

_"Please be gentle with the patient, sweetie. There were a few more issues to deal with him, and Mister Landry is very tired..."_

_"Alright, alright, Mom. I promise."_

_"Pluto, pick up your feet. Ma'am, what other...'issues'...would there be?"_

When Col spoke, I knew my grave was dug and I was already in a coffin.

I woke up in the Eterna City Pokemon Center, with several IVs in my arm and several bandages wrapped around my stomach. My damaged shirt and jacket must have been discarded; I was left in just my jeans.

The poison had cleared up too quick for me to still be administered antidote; the burning from the strike was mostly gone. My side still stung bad, but the pain was surely just from the broken skin.

"Mmm...Col?" I mumbled out, eyes half open. "Ah..." I tried to sit up, to greet my guests, and a sharp bolt of pain went through my side that took my breath away. "Ah!" I nearly folded over in bed. "Shit!"

"Mister Landry!" The nurse was back at my side. "Oh, dear, please try not to move too much. That Beedrill attack managed to leave you with bruised ribs."

_Bruised ribs?! _"Th...ank you for the warning...ma'am." I set myself back down against the pillows. _That _must have been what the pain was, not the broken skin.

The nurse left and let me have a moment alone with my guests. Col and Pluto, clearly recognizable; however, the third was a stranger to me. He had wispy green-blonde hair, and wore khaki pants with a faded green shirt and well-worn viridian jacket; shabby clothes to match tired, baggy green eyes.

I smiled, wide. "This could only...be Aaron Wilkerson."

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Kent." Aaron offered a handshake, eyes crinklingas he smiled, and I could only oblige.

Col...didn't look so happy. Pluto looked upset as well, and his face was flushed pink from his crying spell, but I had a feeling their moods were unrelated.

"Kent...you almost ran yourself right into the ground today." As if I'd never been told that before.

"I...don't think I'm up for a lecture." I _was _tired(exhausted, actually), I'll admit, but enough to garner a lecture? "And, besides, _Col, _we have a _guest _in our presence."

"I, uh, I don't wanna stay if it'll cause trouble for you two..." Aaron took a half-step back.

Col pointed at Aaron, not breaking eye contact. "Stay." Aaron obeyed. Pluto looked to me, probably a little frightened. "Aaron Wilkerson has some things I'm sure you'll be interested to hear."

"I don't see any reason to rush things too fast, now that we've finally caught up with him." My hands laid folded in my lap. "Aaron, I hear there was a bit of trouble for you and Pluto in Floaroma Town?"

"Ah, sir-I think...I think I already told you what you need to know." Pluto was quick to speak. Too quick; I heard him stutter out the words.

"But to hear from two sources can clear up anything that needs it. There's no need to interrupt, Pluto."

That seemed to make him clam up.

Aaron took a seat in the chair next to my bed, and Pluto settled for sitting at the foot of the bed. Col leaned himself against the wall, glowering at me.

I _had _heard about the Floaroma incident from Pluto, but as Aaron laid out the gist of what had happened, it dawned on me that I hadn't heard anything about the girl. My hands were itching to write something; it wasn't often I tried to interview someone without my notepad.

Fighting against the temptation to fall back asleep, I tried to gather my thoughts. Mrs. Wilkerson hadn't been kidding when she told them I was very tired; but, sleep isn't something I like to pause for.

There was a pregnant silence in the air. They all expected me to control the conversation, it seemed.

I yawned. Loudly. I even stretched a little, but that brought back the stinging pain in my side.

"...You're exhausted, Kent." Col spoke as if no one could figure it out for himself. "Aren't you?"

"Eagle eye Col Leech, everybody."

"Would you rather I come back and visit after you get some more rest?" Aaron asked, a little hesitant. "I can stay in town as long as I need to."

"Right...this is where your family is." My trusty friend Ryan ran all of my background checks for me before I even met up with Col. "Wasn't that nice nurse your mom?"

"Heh. She's really only nice when she _is _a nurse." Aaron popped a smirk as he laughed. "Ha..." Before, he'd sat stiffly in his chair, but after thawing out the icy atmosphere, he slouched over, a glint in his eyes I can't say I've never seen before.

"Anyway...I wouldn't dream of pushing my new friend out so soon." Playfully, I nudged Pluto in the back with my foot. The boy nearly jumped a foot in the air. "...Pluto. If you know where Col set my things-"

"-I do."

"-then would you please fetch my notepad and pen for me?"

Almost immediately, Pluto nodded, enthusiastically. "Yes, sir. I'll do it!" He hopped off the bed and started out the door.

"I'll...come with you." Col lumbered after Pluto, adding under his breath, "He doesn't even have the room key."

"Grab my wallet as well, Col. You and Pluto are dismissed for lunch while we chat, so long as you bring me something back."

Col shut the door behind him, leaving Aaron and I completely alone. I fell back against the pillows propping me up, glad to have so many of my visitors gone. Aaron heaved a heavy sigh.

"...Okay, I think it's okay to mention the elephant in the room," I muttered, not bothering to hide the strain in my voice from my bruised rib now that we were alone. "Ugh...the elephant...being Pluto." I laid back down in bed, my head resting on a pillow, finally fully relaxing.

"That's _not _the Pluto I met in Floaroma Town," Aaron finally admitted. "You should have seen the meltdown he had in the lobby; he was crying, apologizing for things that hardly garnered an apology anymore. When I met him in the field in Floaro-"

"In a tree?!"

"Under, actually. But he was cracking jokes, open as a book about everything. But now-"

"-things have changed. I know. He was a little defensive when I first spoke to him yesterday, but now it seems he's blatantly hiding some things from me. He really believed in what those bastards were feeding him, they were all he thought he knew. He couldn't believe he saw his coworker steal."

"He was so _sure_ it was a misunderstanding, Kent." We traded off rapid-fire assessments so quickly, interrupting each other, wanting to reach a more solid point before being interrupted by my lackeys. "It was...he was _heartbroken. _Team Galactic was-"

"-all he had left." I raised a hand from my lap, carding nervously through my own thick blonde hair, tense with nervous energy. "But they kept him alive and took him in. He testified as much to me and Col...there must have been a _reason._ A motive, if you will...a motive to keep him."

"You've gotta find out what it is about him." Aaron had a perfectly logical, infuriating point. "Whoever he was before Team Galactic."

"I've never worked with an amnesiac before. I have a guy that runs background checks and he's already combed hundreds of missing persons reports, but I can't just call him away from his day job." The ceiling of the Pokemon Center trainer's ICU was a lovely shade of gray, like my hopes. "God damn you, Ryan, I-!"

"God damn who?" Just in time to cut me off, Col and Pluto finally returned, Pluto holding my notepad and an assortment of pens. "I don't think you're in any shape to be damning."

"Oh, just...just Ryan, Col." Ryan and Col had never met, but Col knew plenty about him from what I'd told him. "Find my wallet?"

Col held up a bright blue square of duct tape and unfolded it. "This? Classy." There was even a trace of a grin on hs face.

"I'm seriously cutting your paycheck in half if you don't bring me food, Leech." It was my own dehydration and sleep deprivition that had made the nurse so concerned, so maybe Col would even grace his thirsty boss with a drink. "I plan to talk with Aaron for a good long while. Go and grab my Pokegear and my Xtransciever, please, I want you to take any calls I might get today. Take Pluto around the town, and if you get a chance, stock up on medicine." Col was going to be in charge of restocking our supplies from now on.

"Thank you, for the promotion from 'escort' to 'secretary'." Col pocketed my wallet, and turned to Pluto. "Well, let's grab a bite. I'm starving."

"Alright!" Pluto handed me my notepad, as well as the handful of pens. "We'll try not to be gone too long, Kent. Try...to get a little rest, okay?"

Even if just for the short minute they lingered to drop off my supplies, my conversation with Aaron was cut disappointingly short.

But, I did find out there were some things Pluto was too ashamed of to admit to me.

* * *

**AOF: Has my lack of inspiration turned into a hiatus? Find out next update!**


	33. VS Skuntank

_Michelle._

I didn't like pushing Astro away.

Astro had always had a little bit of a temper, but never so...bad. He just always acted a little spoiled, but Amber said that was just how he was. He had been shouting and he was so _angry, _and I didn't want him near me like that.

I was scared of what he'd do when I pushed him and yelled at him, so I ran away. Up to the next floor, then the floor after; I didn't see anyone on my way, but I could hear voices, and the lights were on on these floors.

He didn't used to be so...angry. Max was always the angry one; Astro tried his best to be cheerful and make up for how miserable Max made our sister. But now, Astro was acting _just like Max, _he was angry about Team Galactic and he was taking it out on the others, he was _just like Max _and I _hated _that this side was being brought out in him.

I had to stop running on the third floor. I was out of breath, trying to stop crying and trying to wipe away my tears. The voices I'd heard from downstairs were getting closer. I leaned against the wall, near the staircase, covering my mouth with my hand so that they couldn't hear me breathing.

The voices didn't belong to my friends.

"Well, well...look here, it's another trespasser!" A man and a woman in Galactic uniforms came from the stairway, and I froze, unable to run again.

"Maybe she's here to save her little friends," The woman teased.

_That voice._ It was...it was the woman from Jubilife City who had made fun of me. I was sure of it; it had to be!

One of them grabbed me by the arm, I'm not sure who, and I pulled away, stepping back.

"No!" I shouted. "I-It's you!" I pointed at the woman. "You're...that lady!"

"Huh?!" She pointed at herself. "Who _are _you?"

"Jubilife City!" I squeaked. "Jubilife City, you battled me with a Zubat!" I fumbled with my belt, and managed to get at Bubbles' pokeball. "I'm gonna get you this time!"

_I don't need Astro. Or Dee. Or any of them! All I need is Bubbles!_

She had to have recognized me now. She laughed, and turned to her friend. "Ha! It's that little kid from Jubilife City, dude!"

He snickered. He must have been there, too. "Heh. She's gutsy, at least. Show her who's boss!"

"Go, Zubat!" She sent out her Zubat, like before. "Use Leech Life!"

"Bubbles! Pound that Zubat!" Bubbles squeaked, and swatted Zubat down to the ground when it swooped down at him. "Peck!"

Bubbles pecked at the Zubat on the floor, not giving it a chance to get back up. I felt sorry for the little guy, but me and Bubbles were too mad at the grunt to think about letting up.

Zubat's trainer turned to her friend, upset. "Give me some help here! Are you really gonna let this punk beat me?!"

"Alright, alright. Quit yammering." He brought out a pokeball. "Stunky, use Poison Gas!"

He sent out a pokemon, but before I could see it, a black fog came out of the pokeball and was followed by the most _awful _stench I'd ever smelled. It was like...like Max and Barry's dirty clothes when they come home to have them washed.

"Bub-!" The stench made me start coughing and gagging. "Ugh! Bubbles!"

"_Piiip!_" I could hear Bubbles squeal through the fog. If Bubbles fainted...I couldn't send my Onix out, he would never fit on the floor. All I had...was Bubbles...

"Bubbles! Use Bubble!" It was all I had. I doubled over, coughing, trying not to panic. The stench was so _strong, _I could hear _Bubbles _hacking and coughing...

"Zubat, use Bite!"

"Stunky! Slash at it!"

There was nothing I could do. I was coughing so bad, I ended up kneeling on the ground. Tears rolled down my cheeks again, in anger and in frustration and in fear for how Bubbles would end up fainted and Team Galactic would win and-

"_Michelle!_"

The fog finally cleared, but the stench remained. I looked up, and, still standing in the stairwell, was Astro.

His paw was stretched out, clenched in a fist, and the two pokemon attacking Bubbles were suspended in midair, outlined with Astro's blue aura. He was panting hard, leaning against the railing for the stairs, eyes wide and tinged blue from his Psychic attack. The Galactic grunts in front of him turned around, gasping.

"Oh shit-"

"It's him-!"

"_No time for you two!_" Astro threw his fist behind him, and the Zubat and Stunky were thrown backwards at their trainers and away from Bubbles, who laid passed out on the floor. The force was enough to knock out all four of them.

I closed my eyes and looked down, my arms wrapped around my stomach as I tried to keep from throwing up from that stench. I didn't want to look at Astro, or even at Bubbles; I ran off and made such a big scene, and then landed right into trouble.

"Michelle!" Astro sounded terrified. I felt his arm on my back, the other wrapping around my neck and pulling me into a strong hug, my head resting on his shoulder. "Oh, god-christ, that smell-oh god, Michelle, don't scare me like that ever, ever again. Are you okay?"

"Azzy..." I whimpered out a sob, putting my hand on his chest to push him away but not strong enough to follow through this time.

"Astro! Michelle? Is that her?" I heard Drew coming up the stairs, followed by Maggie's shouts.

"Don't just run away like that, okay?" Astro was still muttering to me, absolutely beside himself. "Don't just run away." He sure was one to talk about running away. "Not from me."

"I was only gone a few minutes," I murmured. "And I didn't want to hear you yelling at my friends."

"Do I _care _how _long _you were gone? You were _gone. Anything_ can happen in a few minutes." His heart thumped hard and fast against my chest. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Michelle, you're still little and I won't let anything happen to you." He was shaking, his voice was even shaking.

The stench slowly cleared out of the room, and I let Astro hold me until he felt better. I never thought that he would get so upset like that, but...Amber's friend had run off after an argument and she'd died, so I guess it was only natural for him to get upset for me running off.

Astro took me by the hand and pulled me to my feet, and I looked around the room; it was the highest floor in the building, and in the far corner, there was a door leading to an office.

"The kids, they're on this floor." Astro kept his voice even, finally satisfied that I was with him again. "The grunts...I scared them all off on the other floor. They all turned tail. But..." Astro didn't finish his sentence, and looked around the room, frowning.

Maggie was squatting over the man from Team Galactic, frowning and snatching one of the pokeballs off his belt.

"This...this is _my_ Treecko!" She snarled. She threw the pokeball down on the ground, and her Treecko did come out! "I knew it! I knew it was him!" She gave the guy a punch in the chest, and he groaned.

Maggie stood up, taking him in her arms. "Treecko, buddy! I missed you so much!"

"Treeeeeek!" Treecko wrapped himself around Maggie, cooing at her happily.

"Check his pokeballs for Max's Croagunk," I requested. "Me and Astro can recognize Cassie!"

"Even if we find her, no one can get into contact with Max," Astro grumbled. "Him and Barry have their Pokegears off, or something..."

"At least you found Treecko. That's one good thing!" Katie chirped.

We searched the grunt's pokeballs, and he did have Cassie. This meant that the grunts who left Floaroma had come to there, in Eterna City.

To dampen the mood again(like I had), the door to the office swung open. A lady in a Team Galactic uniform stepped out, but she had different hair, like the leader in Jubilife City; it was pulled back and bound tight in buns, purple instead of teal. A big, purple, skunk pokemon stood just behind her.

We all watched her, and Astro took a step forward, laying his arm across me and gently pushing me behind him.

"Hmph." The lady with the purple hair raised her arm, and pointed at Astro. "You must be the troublemaker that Mars was griping about."

_Astro._

"Where are the children?" I had to remember the first and foremost reason we were in the building: Jason and Kynie Wilkerson. The last thing I wanted was to upset Michelle by getting upset again.

"Who _are _you?" Katie chimed in right after.

"And where's that Mars, if our pokemon were here?" Maggie demanded.

Jupiter all but brushed off all three of us. The Skuntank at her feet worried me; I was powerful enough to overcome Stunky's dark typing with my Psychic, but evolved pokemon aren't so easy.

"I have the little trespassers in the office." Jupiter produced one pokeball from her belt. "Mars left her grunts with me to guard the building, then ran to the base with her tail between her legs." Another pokeball; one in each hand. "And me, I am Team Galactic Commander Jupiter."

"Jesus Christ, there's more commanders now? Haven't you been around since the old days?" I charged my aura to make a bone to fight with; all that training would be worth it. "Michelle, kids, all of you stand back." There was a good 15 feet between me and Skuntank. Surely enough to fight, at least up close. More room would have been preferable, but with all those kids crowded behind me I couldn't exactly be choosey.

Jupiter chuckled. "Oh, you're a riot. Skuntank, use Flamethrower!"

That damn skunk spat out a stream of fire at me, and I focused my aura into a shield to absorb the attack. Jupiter was going to have to try a lot better than that.

"Oh, so you want to play this game, do you?" When Skuntank finished, I charged out at him, my bone ready to strike. Skuntank met me in the middle, and it was his claws against my Bone Rush. He reared up on his hind legs and slashed at me, but I parried the attack with my bone.

"Rrragh!" Skuntank growled and snarled at me as we dodged each other's attacks, smelling like rotten garbage and farts. I closed my eyes as I swiped and swung my bone, watching the outline of Skuntank's aura. So long as I focused on Skuntank's fighting-

A pokeball opened. Something came up behind me, fast, about to attack. I turned around, opening my eyes, and came face to face with a Golbat right before it swiped me off my balance with its wing!

"_Astro!_" Michelle squeaked. Skuntank slashed me clear across the back with its claws while I was stunned, and Golbat kept smacking me around with its wings. My bone dissolved into nothing, my focus broken beyond repair.

Golbat smacked me one more time, and I landed on my hands and knees in front of Jupiter. I tried to push myself up, and Skuntank climbed on my back. The slashes from his claws stung where his paws stood on top, and I groaned in pain.

"...That was _so_ unfair, you bitch." I lifted up my head, glaring at her.

Jupiter watched me, laughing. I didn't want to give up, but with Skuntank and Golbat _literally _breathing down my back, I didn't have many options.

I could have let myself get pissed again, use my anger to fuel my fighting so I could have beat down Skuntank before Golbat ever came out, but I couldn't let Michelle see me give into my anger again. I had to be calm, even when I wanted my blood to boil and my attacks to destroy.

Amber wouldn't have wanted me to get like that.

"Michelle...run." I tried to get back up again, and Skuntank stamped his paw on the back of my head. I cried out at the claws digging into my skin. "Augh! I mean it, _go!_" I was about to get my tail handed to me. I couldn't let her see me lose like this.

Then, came the shrillest shriek I'd ever heard.

"_**No**!_ _Lenny, use Fury Swipes!"_

A barreling ball of seething hatred came through the air, uncurling into Natalie's Sandshrew and slashing and hacking at whatever he came into contact with. He landed on Skuntank, and Skuntank was so startled he backed off of my back.

Jupiter, after her triumphant "victory", looked completely shocked, face white as a sheet. In the back of the room, Natalie was panting and heaving, shaking with Drew's arm around her shoulders.

"Two on one isn't fair, you cheat, and you know that!" Natalie shrieked. "Lenny, Slash up that Skuntank for Astro!"

"... Did you just _throw _that...that _thing _at me, you little brat?!" Jupiter shrieked, her poise completely thrown off. "Skuntank, Golbat, attack!"

Skuntank was off my back now, and both pokemon were after Lenny. I scrambled back to my feet, focusing my mind on Golbat until I could capture it in midair with my Psychic. Skuntank was caught off-guard by the loss of his partner, and Lenny landed a nasty Slash at Skuntank's face. Behind me, I could hear Drew and Natalie squabbling, and I could feel the dissonance between them.

"Okay, Jupiter," I snarled. Golbat wriggled and writhed under my Psychic, but couldn't get away from me. "Michelle, close your eyes."

"Why-?"

I clenched my paw into a fist and slammed my whole arm all the way down to the floor, and Golbat was sent down, through the second and first floors' ceilings. Jupiter jumped back, not expecting that, and I heard Michelle yelp behind me. Natalie and Drew fell silent.

"_Now I'm angry!_" I managed to capture Skuntank with my Psychic attack, fueled by my anger and indignation, and I repeated the same with him. Skuntank howled as he went barreling through the floors.

All that was left was Jupiter herself. She had one pokeball left, but it would be futile to try to fight back again. I glared at the woman across the room, my paw outstretched as a warning. Jupiter looked horrified at my anger, and how quickly I stomped her pokemon.

"The children," I growled. "Jason and Kynie. Give me the key to that office. Now."

_Drew._

The way Jupiter had her pokemon gang up on Astro like that set off a match within Nat that I'd never seen before.

"Michelle...run..." Skuntank stomped on the back of Astro's head to keep him down, and his telepathic voice was weak as he cried out, "_Augh!_ I mean it, _go!"_

Nat let out an unholy shriek, Lenny balled up in her arms like as if he was asleep.

"**_Noooo!_**" Nat howled. She raised Lenny above her head, and hurled him right at Skuntank! "_Lenny! Use Fury Swipes!_"

Lenny most certainly was not asleep; he'd been waiting.

While Lenny was airborne, Nat already started reaching for her Bulbasaur's pokeball. I grabbed her hand, stopping her. She was completely incensed and without reason; Kibia would never be able to fight a behemoth like that.

"Let me go!" Nat hissed.

"Nat, calm down," I pleaded. Nat tried to pry my fingers away, fingernails digging into my fingers "Nat, stop!"

"Augh!" Nat turned towards the battle, tears stinging her olive eyes. "Two on one isn't fair, you cheat! And you know that!" Nat bared her teeth. "Lenny! _Slash_ up that Skuntank for _Astro!_"

I'd never seen Nat this upset; she had been upset at Gary's memorial, yes, but it was the quiet kind of emotion.. This was an entire new species. She was _angry_, furious, and she fought back when I tried to stop her, shoving my shoulders even when she knew I was stronger by a lot.

"Nat, don't send out Kibia! Astro and Lenny are _fine!_" Why wouldn't she _listen?_ Katie and Carlisle wouldn't dare touch her, and Dan straight up backed up towards the stairs to distance himself from us.

There was a loud crash through the floor, and Michelle screamed, frightened. I looked up and Jupiter's Golbat was gone, a hole smashed where it had flown; Astro was standing tall, eyes flashing blue while he was outlined with psychic power.

"_Now I'm angry!_" Astro did the same to Skuntank, slamming it roughly through the floor to get rid of it. Nat jumped, and switched from fighting against me to cowering behind me.

Nat doesn't usually get so upset like that. I couldn't understand it; what had set it off? Was it just Jupiter ganging her pokemon up on Astro? Or something else?

With no more pokemon left that could fight, Jupiter was backed into a wall. Astro raised his paw at her, voice dead serious as he demanded, "The kids. Jason and Kynie. Give me the key to that office. Now."

Jupiter laughed pathetically. "Ha...haha...how do you know they're even in there?"

"Because I'm the _aura_ pokemon, stupid, I can sense auras. You're about to piss your pants at the thought of losing to me, _Kynie's_ about to piss her pants at the thought of Aaron not coming to save them, and I'm not in a very good mood."

Astro was still using his psychics, on Jupiter herself this time. She looked very uncomfortable as Astro took the chance to dig through her pockets, and a keyring with two keys was lifted out into the air.

"Is he pickpocketing her?" I heard Katie whisper.

"He's _definitely_ pickpocketing her," came Maggie's reply.

Astro didn't stop at the keys. He found something else in her pockets, and raised his other fist to clench it as he lifted it out as well. It was a small, circular black disk, like a thick mini frisbee. I wasn't sure what it was.

Jupiter snickered as Astro brought it closer to him. Katie gasped, recognizing it.

"Astro, wait, stop! Be careful, that's a sm-!"

Katie's shout startled Astro and broke his focus, and he accidentally smashed the smoke bomb and the keys into the floor

Black smoke filled the air immediately, all of us starting into coughing fits. I held my breath, knowing better than to breathe in.

Dan reached out blindly, and grabbed at my shirt sleeve with his whole fist, and I saw him faintly as he dug through his pockets for Ducky's pokeball.

"Fu-! God dammit!" Astro roared, his voice clear through the smoke. Not a second later, I felt Jupiter shove past me in a mad dash to the staircase.

"Wait! Stop!" Nat followed after, and I tried to stop her, accidentally breathing in as I missed at grabbing her arm. What felt like the equivalent of lightning to my nervous system shocked me as I burst into a coughing fit, too.

By the time Dan had Ducky blow away the smoke, both Nat and Jupiter were gone. Astro stood in the middle of the floor, scowling, teeth bared as he snatched Jupiter's keys off the ground.

Carlisle coughed one last time, taking off his glasses to clean them. "Hey...if Lenny can...*cough* pick locks...why did you-?"

"Shut up!" Astro had lost all pretense of trying to control his anger.


	34. Up in Flames

_Natalie._

"J-Jupiter! Wait!"

Aaron had said that he was sure Team Galactic had been the reason Gary went missing. I wanted to be sure, too.

I caught up with Jupiter on the ground floor, while she gathered her Skuntank and Golbat. I didn't have Lenny with me, but I had Kibia, and she shouldn't have had any pokemon left.

Jupiter grimaced when she saw me. "The Sandshrew brat. Where's your army?"

"This is personal." My hands were balled at my sides. "I want to...ask you something. We won't turn you in or anything, so please, just listen to me!" Kibia's pokeball was clenched in my fist, and I could feel the leaf emblem above the button.

The snarl on her face turned into a sly smile as she considered my request. "...Alright," She agreed. "What is it?"

I cleared my throat. "Gary Oak," I started. "The grandson of Professor Oak, out in Kanto. He was working in Sinnoh under Professor Rowan, and a friend says Team Galactic was trying to pressure him to join. Is all that true?"

Violet lips and devil eyes watched me as I nervously spoke. "And, what if it were?" Jupiter asked.

"I want to know why!" It felt like she was mocking me. I wouldn't stand for it. "Dammit, why did you go after _Gary, _of all people?"

"That's two questions, missy." Jupiter's smirk went away. "What business is it of yours why or how we operate?"

"Answer me!" I demanded, yelling out of anger. "People say he's _dead, _and his friend swears that he was trying to escape _you! _That's my big brother, god dammit, just let me know _why! _Why would Aaron_ say _that if it weren't_ true?!_" I was seeing red, why wouldn't she just answer me?! "What is Team Galactic even trying to _do?!"_

Something clicked in Jupiter's mind when I mentioned Aaron by name. A sinister smile creeped on her face. "Aaron...did this friend used to be a gym leader?"

It was...a little creepy. I didn't like her smile, when she thought of Aaron.

Slowly, I nodded. "Uh...huh. He did," I confirmed hesitantly. "But they met through Professor Rowan, so he must have left-"

Jupiter cut me off with a loud, cruel laugh. Like I was mistaken. "He never bothered to mention _why _he was cut out from the records, did he?" She taunted. "The number-one fan of Team Galactic...that one _says _plenty of things to win over weak-minded little kids like you."

"That's a lie!" My fingers were so tight around Kibia's pokeball, I could feel the metal creaking. "I'm here of my own free will! Just give me a straight answer! Why is that so difficult?!"

_Why does he even matter? _I wasn't sure why Aaron had stopped being a gym leader. But, that also wasn't my business. And it wasn't Jupiter's, either!

I wasn't allowed much time to draw a conclusion; Jupiter brought out her third pokemon. Astro mentioned her having two more pokemon when she first brought out Golbat, but we didn't see it.

"Bronzor! Knock this child away from me!" She was done entertaining my questions.

A blue, clock-shaped hexagon pokemon came out on her command, spinning at lightning speed towards me. I yelped, swerving away before it hit me, but it followed me.

I should have tried to make Kibia fight, but with that...that _thing _chasing me, it was impossible to think.

I only dodged once or twice, before I heard something at the staircase.

"_Pixel!_" A Luxury Ball sent out Drew's Vulpix, his voice echoing through the small floor. "Flame Charge! _Now! _Don't let that Bronzor touch Nat!"

Pixel's tiny body erupted into flames, and while I cowered against a wall, she plowed herself directly into the pokemon. It stopped spinning, downed in one hit, and clattered to the floor like a platter.

Drew was by my side in just a moment. Jupiter had already turned tail, leaving her pokemon.

"Nat!" He grabbed my arm in a crushing grip. I could feel his pulse racing through his hand. "Nat, are you okay? You're not hurt?"

I couldn't speak for a moment. Everything had happened so fast, I felt like I had whiplash.

"Drew..." Pixel bounded over to us, and nuzzled my ankle. "Drew, wh-when did you-?"

"I saw you run after her. You were so upset, Nat...I _had _to follow." He relaxed his grip on me a little, but didn't let go. "I couldn't hear well in the stairway, but I could at least hear her pokeball."

It was almost enough to make me blush; it's _so _like Drew to be protective of me, but the sincerity in his voice made me so glad to have him. I felt a little better knowing he had been there.

"Oh..." I sighed, hanging my head. "I'm sorry I was too scared to even defend myself."

"No, Nat, don't apologize...it's just what I do."

"Than-"

Before I could even say thanks, the others came rushing downstairs; Katie, then Maggie and Dan, then Carlisle and Michelle bringing up the rear with the two children. Dan was carrying Lenny, and Lenny popped out of his arms towards me when he saw me.

Jason looked like the spitting image of his brother; he was only, like, 9, but he had the same white-blonde hair his siblings have. The only difference were dark blue eyes.

"Nattie!" Katie barrelled right into me, and caught me in a bear hug. Drew let go of me when Katie came charging. "We heard screaming all the way up there! Don't _scare_ me like that! What happened?!"

"Where'd that commander go?" Maggie demanded, looking around. "Do you know?"

Jupiter really had left. She had gathered Skuntank and Golbat, but her third pokemon still laid on the floor knocked out. Just inside the door, a broken pokeball was sitting on the ground.

"She's gone," I murmured into Katie's shoulder. "Astro...?"

"He'll be down in a minute. He's...not happy." Michelle didn't sound happy, either, telling me. Listening a little closer, I could hear Astro shouting upstairs, and something broke.

Kynie stood quietly at her side, holding Michelle's hand and her brother's in a small chain. Aside from looking very frightened, it didn't seem like a hand had been laid on them.

"Can we go back to Gardenia yet?" Jason asked, anxiously, looking around the room.

"Not yet," Michelle hushed him. "Guys, we can't leave Astro. He'll tear the building down with his bare paws if we leave him by himself, and then _Dee__'s _gonna be mad. You don't wanna deal with that."

As if there were something scarier than Astro being mad.

Katie finally let go of me a moment later, and we all waited together for Astro to calm himself and come downstairs.

_Kent._

_At the Pokemon Center._

"Ah, Aaron? You've got some visitors." Mrs. Wilkerson didn't seem happy to tell Aaron about this. "I'd suggest you give Mr. Landry some time to rest." She wasn't subtle about telling her son to piss off.

"Nonsense," I asserted, not even letting Aaron talk back. "Show them back here, please."

Aaron paled after his mom left. "Kent, I don't think you'll want to deal with them..." He warned me. "If it's the kids I've been traveling with-"

"Kids? I hardly think you can call us that anymore, man."

Two guys strolled into the room; a guy, the one who had spoken, with matted dirty blonde hair and pants that were far too tight, and a smaller guy with an afro wearing an odd mix of sweatpants and a yellow polo.

"Volkner?! Flint?" Aaron _obviously _hadn't expected these two guys. "Shouldn't you guys be heading back out east by now?"

"We were," Sweats answered, with a smart aleck smirk. "But, duty calls."

"Cynthia caught word of what happened in Jubilife City," Tight Pants griped. He pulled out an envelope from his jacket pocket. "Both you and Dee are in trouble, but you're the one in hot water."

"_Cynthia? _Aw, _hell."_ Aaron tore open the envelope, grimacing as he read the letter. "A meeting? Really?"

"A meeting to what?" I asked.

Aaron shook his head, crumpling up the letter in disgust. "A disciplinary hearing," He groaned. "Hosted by Cynthia, Sinnoh Pokemon League Champion. Dammit, why is it always _me?_"

"I'm still confused," I admitted. "Why are you being summoned to a disciplinary hearing?"

From what I understood, Aaron had just helped a girl who had been kidnapped by Team Galactic. Why would that even be an issue?

Pants crossed his arms, scowling at Aaron. "Because your buddy here has always had authority issues. Our Champion thinks he crossed the line in not letting authorities handle the situation in Jubilife City, so now she's out for his head."

"It's not my fault, Volkner!" Aaron howled. "This is an injustice! I've done_ nothing_ wrong!"

Volkner shrugged, rather flippant about the situation. "You broke your agreement, dude," He sighed. "I sympathize, I really do, but I'm only carrying out our boss's orders. Maybe you remember being Bertha's lapdog?" Man, this kid had a chip on his shoulder.

The other one, Flint, clapped Aaron on the shoulder. "Don't worry, man! We'll vouch for you!" He promised, a big grin on his face. "Me and Volk are on your side, and I'm sure Gardenia and the little guy are, too!"

I watched this whole exchange, still confused after Flint and Volkner were ushered away. Why was Aaron in so much trouble? Why was the League Champion after him, of all people?

Aaron sighed as he shut the door, unfolding his crumpled letter. "Dammit, Kent. Now I'm in a bad spot."

"Let me see that latter," I requested, and he handed it to me.

_Aaron Wilkerson,_

_After reviewing your actions in Jubilife City and learning that you were the one to drive Natalie Oak from her home, you have been officially found out of compliance with the previously resolved Veilstone Agreement, and as per this agreement, have become subject to questioning by the Sinnoh Pokemon League to determine what the repurcussions of your actions will be._

_Arrive at the Conference Center in Hearthome City on September 7th at 11:00 am to attend this hearing. Tardiness or absence will result in immediate punishment, and a search warrant may be taken out on you._

_-From Champion Cynthia's desk_

"Couldn't even write me up a conviction notice herself..." Aaron grumbled. "She had her own pet, Lucian, type this up."

"'Veilstone Agreement'?" Ryan had mentioned nothing of that name when he was running Aaron's background checks over the summer. "What's the deal with this?"

Aaron sighed nervously, running his hands through his thin hair as he paced my room. "It was...an under the table thing," He admitted reluctantly. "Seven years back, the leader of Team Galactic was discovered and arrested...but under one of his orders, a teenager had died in a rock slide up on Mt. Coronet. And it was up to the Pokemon League members to decide the punishment for the leader, including the gym leaders."

I nodded. "You were a gym leader, yes." I knew that much, but there was never any information on why he isn't now.

"I had argued so hard for the death penalty. I argued so hard for L-for justice." Aaron's voice caught in his throat, thinking about it. "I was sixteen. The man who created a group based off of stealing and cheating should have _fried, _for what happened to that guy. He hurt so many lives-he stole his own daughter's pokemon and locked him up for months, for Christ's sake! Astro has _post traumaric stress disorder, _for crying out loud, Cyrus should be _dead!"_

I nodded, snapping my fingers to bring Aaron out of his rant. "But...this agreement?"

Hesitation slowed Aaron from speaking. Then, he admitted, "I filibustered for nearly four years, fighting against the rest of the League to put Cyrus to death. The previous champion, Bertha, she couldn't decide which punishment was more fitting, and so we finally held a true trial to decide..."

"And you lost the trial. Cyrus is still rotting in prison." I had done hours of research the night before. "So all your efforts were in vain."

"And all the time I wasted," Aaron bitterly admitted. "I never got my justice. And...Bertha made me agree...that if Cyrus was sentenced to anything but death, I would accept dismissal from my gym and forfeit all rights to fight against any criminal activity or groups."

"That's excessive " Dismissal from his gym made sense, but he couldn't fight Team Galactic? That made no sense. "So, you have to go to this hearing next week, for helping that girl in Jubilife City?"

"Today is the 27th," Aaron rattled off, already jittery. "That's, like...five, six days. I need that long to get to Hearthome. I'd have to leave tomorrow, with Natalie, and I can't tell her or my family why. My mom would have an aneurysm if she knew I was about to be in legal trouble."

"I should be out of here tomorrow. And I'll have no reason to stick around if you leave," I reminded him. "Could we go with you? I know a little bit about how all this works."

"We may even have to leave _tonight, _Kent," Aaron complained, wringing his hands together. "My mom would never just let you up and leave until your health's 100% okay."

"Out of the question. I'm going with you." A silly little thing like my health would never slow me, of all people, down.

My demand wrung a chuckle out of Aaron. "Ha. You've got a needle in your arm and had to have poison flushed from your system, and you're raring to go?"

"I don't stay in places long. Not when I can be in the field, or there to help a new friend." My right side still stung something fierce, and my ribs were bruised to all hell, and I did feel a little tired after so much happening so fast, but if there hadn't been a needle in my arm giving me fluids, I would have been ready to pack up and leave.

Before we could finish talking, the door opened and Col led a rather sickly-looking Pluto inside. I sat bolt upright in bed, immediately alarmed, wincing at the pain in my ribs. Pluto was positively gray and Col was flushed and flustered, like they had just run.

They didn't have my takeout with them, either.

"Col! I leave you two the task of getting lunch-!"

"We've got trouble," Col warned me. He looked rather grim, himself. "Team Galactic. Outside the building. _Now._" He had left his pokeballs on my bedside table, and took the opportunity to pocket them. "They were trying to slip out of the city. Saw Pluto. Stay inside!" Col rushed out by himself, grumbling about "that damned kid".

_"What?_" I could not have cared less about the IV in my arm or how weak I felt, now that I'd heard Pluto had been found. I ripped the needle from my vein and started getting up, slipping on my shoes. Blood trickled down my arm, and I barked, "Somebody get me a paper towel!" It was Pluto that scrambled to the bathroom for me.

"Kent!" Aaron grabbed my arm, trying to pull me back to the bed. "You can't just _rip _an IV out-and my mom has you on bedrest! Leave me and Col-!"

"I've had quite enough rest for one day." The sway in my step as I ripped the only pokeball off my belt wasn't convincing. "Pluto!" I hadn't come all the way out to Sinnoh to lay around and chew the fat with a disgraced gym leader.

"Coming!" Pluto came back with a roll of toilet paper-not quite what I wanted, but enough. I wrapped half the roll around my forearm in a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and rushed out before Aaron could stop me.

_Dee._

_In the Herb Market._

I was shopping for Amber's birthday present when I met Professor Oak.

Amber's always looking for new spices and herbs to use in her cooking, and Eterna City had some of the best green tea(Amber's favorite) in Sinnoh, so I figured I'd make good use of Palmer's credit card while I had time. Glaceon walked with me in the aisles of the small shop, carrying my basket in her mouth and pointing out when she could see Amber's favorite flavors.

"Excuse me, young lady..." I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Would you know if there's any tea in this shop?"

I turned around, and nearly swallowed my tongue when I came face-to-face with one of the most world-renowned professors in the world. I recognized him from TV, and I had met Gary a few times; there was definitely a family resemblance, even if the old man was getting on in years. He had a guy with him, presumably an assistant, with shaggy dark green hair, wearing a headband to keep it away.

"A-Ah...yes, sir," I finally spat out. "T-The next aisle. Lots of tea. I was actually about to go over there."

_Holy shit, _I thought, _this is **the **Professor Oak. _No disrespect to Professor Rowan, but Professor Oak developed probably the most widely-used technology in the world for trainers. His grandson, Bill, developed the PC system and accomplished more by 16 than I've done my whole life. I would have commited murder if the man asked.

The professor and his assistant went with me to the next aisle, and I couldn't have been more intimidated.

"My, you've got a lot of herbs there," Oak commented, eyeing the basket Glaceon carried. "Do you come here often?"

I shook my head. "Only sometimes, sir. I live a couple towns over, in Twinleaf Town. But my best friend's birthday is coming up, and she loves this herb qshop."

The small shop had a lot of tea bags available for purchase(and the professor was loading up almost a box of everything on his poor assistant), but I couldn't find Amber's favorite.

"Excuse me, do either of you see any green tea with mint?" I asked, scanning the shelves. "It's usually right in the middle..."

"I think it's up on a higher shelf," The assistant offered. "Is it, Professor?"

Oak looked up, scanning the shelves, and pointed at a small box. "Yes! Tracey, can you grab it for her?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine..." I reached up to the box he pointed out, but it was just a little out of my grasp.

"It's no problem, ma'am." Tracey grabbed the box with no effort, and handed it to me.

The professor was beaming. "Thank you, Tracey. It's very nice of you to go shopping for your friend like this, young lady!"

I took my basket up from Glaceon, and set the box on top of everything else. "Well, like I said...she's my best friend, and she can't really leave home like I can. Do you guys need any more help?"

"You could come up to the counter with us," The professor suggested. Who was I to argue?

We all went to the counter together, and Tracey set the professor's tea down. While it was being paid for, I let him pet Glaceon.

"Glllllace," He purred, while Tracey scratched under his chin.

"What a pretty coat!" I couldn't help beaming at the compliment. "You must take really good care of him."

"I used to be a coordinator. I give nothing but the best for Mommy's babies!" I ruffled Glaceon's ears at that, withholding that Aaron taught me how best groom an Eeveelution.

"I wish I had my sketchbook on me," Tracey admitted. "It's not every day you get to meet a Glaceon." Glaceon was putty under his hands, nuzzling Tracey's hand as he stroked his fur.

"You like to sketch?"

Before Tracey could answer, I caught Professor Oak saying, "...and I'd like to pay for the girl behind me as well, please."

I shook my head no, spluttering, "N-No! Sir, I couldn't let you pay for everything!" Palmer had promised I could buy whatever I wanted for Amber, I had more than enough money.

Professor Oak glanced back at me, chuckling. "You remind me of my granddaughters," He told me. "Please let me."

"No, sir, _really, _I've got my stepdad's credit card, I can more than cover it-!"

"Too late." Oak handed the woman behind the counter a few big bills, and told her to keep the change. "Let's go see if the kids are home, Tracey!"

"Right, sir!" Tracey stood up from where he'd been kneeling, and gathered up the boxes of tea bags on the counter.

Professor Oak threw a "It was nice talking today!" over his shoulder before they left, and I was left dumbfounded as the lady behind the counter recorded how much my purchase was for the records.

Professor Samuel Oak, one of the most important people from pokemon history that I knew of, bought nearly $200 worth of tea and then paid for my birthday gift for Amber, without even knowing my name.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it. When I stepped out of the Eterna Herb Shop, I could see black smoke and curling flames coming from the area around the Pokemon Center, and could hear shouts that resembled a pokemon battle.

_For god's sakes-! Aaron was just there! _I nearly dropped my wicker basket with the herbs and green tea. "Glaceon! Let's check this out!" It wasn't difficult to figure who was probably at the heart of it.

"Glace!" I took off running, and Glaceon fell into step right beside me.


	35. In Arms As Always

_Dee._

When I got to the Pokemon Center, it wasn't on fire(thank God). But, what you could consider to be a pokemon battle was going on.

A platoon of Team Galactic grunts, at least 15, were being lead by that Commander Mars in an attack on two guys standing at the door. Almost every grunt had a Golbat out, including Mars herself.

One of the guys defending was the surly guy in a trenchcoat Aaron had met in the morning; the other looked like he had already been attacked. He was wearing jeans and no shirt, with bloody bandages wrapped around his stomach. He looked pale and weak, but was still calling out orders to his pokemon, a smoking ball of fire floating in the sky.

"V-Vic! Use V-Create!" He almost lost his balance, and caught his partner's sleeve in a death grip before falling. "Mow through as many of these bastards as you can!"

The guy shook his friend off, and growled, "_Kent! _Get back inside already! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on all these Golbat!"

"Golbat! Crunch down on that rat!" I heard Mars' voice over all the clamor. "I'm taking that recruit back if it kills me!"

A Golbat swept down and chomped on the trenchcoat guy's Pikachu, and caught a mouthful of static electricity. The ball of fire came crashing down on Golbat, who spit out Pikachu and cried out, but another Golbat swiped away the pokemon.

_This is such an unfair battle...! _There were eight pokemon for every one those two guys were using. No one could win under these conditions. It wasn't fair!

Glaceon set my basket of herbs down, already thinking along the same lines. I picked it up, and snatched Glalie's pokeball from my belt for some support.

"Glaceon! Use Blizzard and freeze these bats!" I threw out Glalie's pokeball, and continued, "Glalie! You use Ice Shard, on the lead Golbat! Freeze everything in the air, you two!"

On my orders, Glaceon breathed out a frozen stream of breath, parting the group of grunts ahead of me just like the Red Sea. The breath grew stronger as he continued, until a swirling blizzard of snow and frost swirled around the two guys at the door at the center of it all. The shirtless guy, Kent, looked like he had been shot as he felt the cold Blizzard, and the Golbat all scattered in a frenzy at the unexpected attack.

Once Glalie located the lead Golbat, Mars' pokemon, he formed a huge chunk of ice in the blizzard and chucked it right at Golbat. It knocked the pokemon clear out of the sky, and the Blizzard Glaceon summoned managed to freeze every Golbat in the group. The Pikachu and the fire pokemon that the two guys commanded were kept safe by the raging fire.

Mars looked directly at me as the attack subsided. "You-! You're that girl-!"

"Glaceon, another Blizzard! Glalie, you too! Freeze everything until they leave!" I wasn't about to stop.

Golbat were quickly gathered and grunts scrambled from their leader as another freezing wind gathered between my two pokemon. Even Mars ran off, finally, and I didn't chase after her.

The shirtless guy at the door, Kent, was holding onto his friend's sleeve again as if his life depended on it, looking scared shitless as he stared at me. For the first time, I saw the bloody toilet paper wrapped around his right arm as a terrible makeshift bandage. I ran over to them as the grunts dispersed; the fire pokemon went right to Kent's side, the fire dissolving around it and revealing a cute, bunny-looking cream colored thing with blue eyes.

Kent gathered it in his free arm, muttering "Vic...cold," as he held it flush to his side. Vic cuddled into Kent's side, a concerned look on its face.

"What the hell just happened?!" I screeched, coming up to the two. "Why were they just-who the hell are you?!" Glaceon fetched my basket of herbs and tea for me, and I returned both him and Glalie

No response from Kent; he had gone nearly catatonic. His friend looked between me and him, and asked, "You're Aaron's friend?"

"'Friend' is a pretty strong word, but yes."

"I'm Col. Follow us." Col nearly dragged Kent inside the Pokemon Center, and after I returned Glalie to his pokeball, I followed after.

Col led me to one of the back recovery rooms, and set Kent on a bed that had obviously already been used. Ms. Wilkerson was standing at the bathroom door of the room, pounding on it as she shouted, holding a dripping IV.

"_Aaron! _I told you, let Mr. Landry rest, and now see what's happened! Just what in the _hell _are you doing?!"

"...Ms. Wilkerson." Col cleared his throat, and she turned to find us. "I'm so sorry about the trouble Kent caused for you. I told him to stay."

"There was an emergency outside," I added, trying to help. "But...it was resolved."

"Dee! What a surprise to see you so soon!" She seemed to perk up after seeing me. "Are you...involved with these boys?"

I looked at Kent, still unresponsive and clutching his pokemon, and then at Col, who sighed heavily.

"...I guess so, ma'am," I answered reluctantly. "Is, um, that guy going to be okay...?"

"He's got some issues with the cold. He'll be fine," Col assured me.

After a stern lecture to the heavily shaken Kent, Ms. Wilkerson replaced his bandages and gave Kent another IV drip. That seemed to explain why his arm had been bleeding; he ripped it right out.

Col pounded on the bathroom door, angry. "Wilkerson! They're gone! The door!"

Aaron unlocked the bathroom door and Col swung it open, and you could see a teal-haired boy sitting on the toilet seat with half of his hair cut off. Aaron held the scissors in his own hand.

"Pluto said...they recognized him by the haircut," Aaron explained sheepishly. "It was the best I could think to do." He caught sight of me over Col's shoulder, and went slackjawed. "Oh no."

"Oh, _yes," _I growled. "Aaron! What the hell is happening?! I came to the building and found these two fighting off over a dozen Galactic grunts!" The only thing stopping me from beating Aaron black and blue was Col standing solidly between us.

We took a second to all take a breath and calm down, then Aaron and Pluto came out from the bathroom. Kent seemed to have gathered himself again, and Pluto sat at the edge of the bed.

"Kent, Col, Pluto, this is my friend, Coordinator Dee the Icy Queen," Aaron sheepishly introduced me. "Sorry she had to step in. Someone had to stay with Pluto."

"It _should _have been Kent..." Col griped under his breath.

"Col, be quiet!" Kent finally spoke, his sharp tone telling me him and Col argued a lot.

"Dee, this is, uh, Kenta Landry and Col Leech," Aaron continued, disregarding them. "Kent's a reporter from the Kalos region way out far, and Col is...uh..."

"Hired help," Col offered. "I'm the bodyguard for this idiot."

"I don't actually need a _bodyguard, _I only needed an assistant," Kent insisted. "Anyway... this boy here is Pluto." He patted Pluto on the shoulder. "He has amnesia and found himself in Team Galactic against his will."

"Kent's adopted a grunt," Col griped, and Kent glared at him.

With his jaw clenched and not a breath between a single word, Kent growled, "Today's not the day for this passive aggressive bullshit, Col, swear to God I can cut your paycheck down to $100 without a care in the world, I could burn my entire god damn checkbook without a second thought, you little-!"

"It's been a rough day," Aaron finally interjected. "Wild pokemon attacked them this morning. These two found Pluto after the Windworks was vacated, Team Galactic had left him behind, and the grunts here in the city found and recognized Pluto by his haircut when Kent sent him and Col out for lunch." Glancing to Col for confirmation, Aaron asked, "Does that about sum up your day?"

Col nodded, grimly. "Yeah...it turns out, that Commander's been ordered to take him back alive by any means necessary."

"He's not _going _back," Kent insisted. "Any group that will steal pokemon and cause so much trouble is bad news, and whatever they want Pluto for can't possibly be just for _charity._"

Pluto looked...a little familiar. His hair was half cut off, thanks to Aaron, but the look in his eye was something I'd seen before. Like he was struggling himself to decide what was right to do.

"Kent, you've already gotten into enough trouble without adding something else to your plate. You may like this boy, but you hardly even take care of yourself, how can you expect to-?"

"Where else is Pluto supposed to go! If I don't take him in, who will?" Kent's voice was bordering on shrill, he was so offended. "What, so we let him sleep in _trees_the rest of his life without a cent to his name?!"

"Kent, you're getting _incredibly_ upset," Col warned him. "Shouting isn't going to solve anything."

What an awful pair they made; both Kent and Col were clinging so stubbornly to their own arguments. I might as well have been watching two Tauros butting horns.

I clapped my hands together as hard as I could, drawing their attention. Pluto jolted at the sound, and Kent drifted off in the middle of a sentence.

"...You guys haven't asked Pluto what he _wants_ to do, have you?" I asked, coming to the obvious conclusion. I crossed my arms over my chest, scoffing, "Typical hardheaded _men. _You think you can just decide what's best for someone when he himself isn't sure. No wonder Pluto hasn't said anything, you two keep trying to do all the talking! No wonder you associate with _him." _ I emphasized my point by pointing at Aaron.

"Hey, what'd _I _do?" Aaron complained, holding his hands up defensively.

Finally, both Kent and Col fell completely silent. All it took was a little criticism; it was the same way to stop Barry and Max from bickering when they get muleheaded at home. The look on Kent's face reminded me of a kid whose balloon was popped, and Col looked a little indignant at being called out like that.

After a few seconds' pause, Pluto murmured, "I think I like this chick, Dee."

_Carlisle._

_Outside the Eterna Gym._

"Gardiiiiiiiie!"

"Gardenia, we're back!"

Jason and Kynie were all over Gardenia the moment we delivered them back to her, and the three of them looked so happy to be back together.

Drew and Nattie had headed back to our grandpa's vacation house to see if Tracey and Grandpa were back from running errands, and Michelle insisted on dragging that out of control Lucario to the pokemon center for a check up, as well as to look for Dee and have that abandoned Bronzor looked at. That left me, my sister, Dan, and Maggie to deliver the kids to the gym leader.

"You guys! You're okay!" Gardenia laughed in joy, hugging them both. "They really weren't hurt?"

"Not a hair out of place on either little blonde head," Katie promised. "They were both so brave!"

"Of course we weren't scared," Jason scoffed. "Aaron was comin' to get us, 'til you guys showed up."

Man. This was the sourest kid I'd ever met.

Kynie punched him in the shoulder, barking, "Don't be mean to them!"

Gardenia gently pushed them apart by the shoulder. "Thank you guys so much. I could never have looked Aaron in the eye if anything had happened to these two, he looked after me when I was their age."

"It's no sweat." Maggie nuzzled her Treecko, sitting on her shoulder. "I already had a bone to pick with those Galactic punks. It's so nice, having my baby back."

"Treeeee-cko!" The little gecko cooed, nuzzling her back.

Nattie had texted me a little about all of that, said that a few pokemon had been stolen in Floaroma Town. This girl didn't look like the type you'd wanna steal from; she had a terminal case of resting bitch face, and dressed in probably the shortest ripped jean shorts you'd ever seen. She also had a metal skull ring on her finger that looked like it'd really hurt if she punched you.

"So! Are any of you guys here for a gym battle?" Gardenia clapped her hands together cheerily. "I'll bet you've all got some strong pokemon!"

I heard Dan inhale when she asked about challengers. I elbowed him and asked, "Dan...do you want to battle her first?" He had chickened out in Oreburgh City, worried that his Charmander and Farfetch'd would get hurt bad. Nattie told me he was shy and really anxious, so she wanted me to try to help him get through that.

Dan bit his lip, shaking his head no. His eyes were glued to the ground.

I shrugged, turning to Gardenia. "Then I guess it's just me for now, ma'am." I cracked my knuckles, grinning. "Dan'll probably feel better after seeing a battle."

"Aww, what's wrong with Danny?" Katie's dumb crush on Dan was irritating, to me. She had her own friends to fuss over. She tried to put her arm around his shoulders, and he shrugged her off, pink with embarrassment.

Gardenia nodded. "Well...then, why don't we head inside the gym!" She opened the doors, and lead the four of us inside.

_Dan._

"Katie, why don't you battle a gym leader? You went up against all those grunts yesterday...that Fire Pledge was _awesome."_

"Hmph. That? My pokemon were just defending themselves. I'm not a real trainer, not really; Carlisle and his pokemon actively train."

I couldn't help overhearing Katie and Maggie talk as Carlisle and Gardenia got ready to battle. Katie really was proud of Carlisle, even if they were dicks to each other sometimes.

I had both Charcoal and Ducky in the stands sitting with me, to watch the battle. Maybe it could help get them psyched up.

"Hey...kid, what's your deal?" Maggie must have been talking to me. "You haven't really said anything..."

"This is Dan," Katie introduced me. I was never formally introduced to Maggie. "Him and Drew, they're twins-"

"_Twins?_" I ducked my head and blushed as Maggie stared in wonder. "That fat nerd, and this...shrimp?"

"Don't c-call 'im fat." Drew _hates _being called fat; he really isn't, he does a lot of physical labor at the professor's lab and he used to play a lot of sports before his asthma got bad.

Katie gasped. "My god, he can speak."

"Okay!" Finally, little Jason was announcing the battle's start. "The battle between Gym Leader Gardenia and the challenger, Carlisle Urmine, will now begin! Each trainer will use two pokemon, and the battle will end when both pokemon on either side are unable to battle! Begin!"

"Turtwig! I choose you!" Gardenia was first on the draw, sending out a green turtle-like pokemon with a brown shell. I recognized it as one of the starters Michelle had been able to choose from.

Carlisle had his Pokedex out in a flash, and it said, "Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokemon. Turtwig makes its home near lakes. When it drinks water, the shell on its back hardens."

"Houndour! Let's go!" He sent out his Houndour, a pokemon I hadn't seen in his first gym battle.

"Begin!" Jason repeated, raising his arms.

"Houndour, use Fire Fang!" Carlisle must've chosen Houndour on purpose.

Gardenia laughed. "Turtwig! Use Withdraw!"

Houndour charged at Turtwig, his mouth full of fire, but when Houndour tried to chomp down on Turtwig, it tucked its legs under its body and Houndour bit down on its shell!

"Huh-?!" Turtwig didn't seem to take any kind of damage! "Houndour! Bite harder!"

"Turtwig, use Hidden Power while they're confused!" Gardenia didn't look fazed at all by the type difference!

The leaves on Turtwig's head glowed bright blue, and Turtwig charged into Houndour head-first. Droplets of water fell on the ground as Houndour was thrown back!

"What the hell-?!" Carlisle sounded like he had never seen a Hidden Power before. "Houndour! Get up! What was that?!"

Gardenia laughed, again. "My Turtwig doesn't need to worry about your fire types," She bragged. "His Hidden Power is the power of water!"

"Far-fetch'd! Faaaaarr!" Ducky recognized the attack and cheered, waving his onion stalk around like when he uses Hidden Power.

Houndour got back up, snarling at Turtwig. "Houndour, use Flamethrower, then! Don't let them get you!" Carlisle glared at Ducky, very clearly flustered by how quick the battle went south.

On Carlisle's command, Houndour spat out a stream of fire at Turtwig. The little thing stood tall through the flames, wincing but still strong. Charcoal watched Houndour carefully, maybe wanting to perfect his own Flamethrower.

"How can a little grass type stand that kind of fire?" Katie was genuinely in shock.

"Grass can be stronger than you think," Maggie answered. She sounded gravely serious. "The moisture in that earth shell is probably keeping its body from drying out, and then that same moisture is used in its water Hidden Power."

"Turtwig! Use Hidden Power again, and really let it loose this time!" Gardenia was tickled pink at Maggie's analysis.

"Turrrr-twig!" Turtwig's leaves glowes blue again through the flames, and it charged head first at Houndour. Houndour went flying on contact, a stream of water following behind, and Houndour was knocked out when he landed behind Carlisle!

"What?! How did-?"

"The challenger's Houndour is unable to battle!" Jason announced gleefully.

Wow, that was fast. Katie cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted, "You suck, Car!"

"Piss off!" Carlisle returned his Houndour, wiping nervous sweat from his brow. "Sableye! Let's pick up the pace, buddy!"

_Col._

_At the Pokemon Center._

Kent's threat to burn his checkbook did frighten me a bit.

In the month and a half we had traveled together, he had never been so unhinged as he was that day. He later admitted that the feeling of Dee's Glaceon's Blizzard dredged up some memory and he felt overly panicked over it, on top of the other stresses of the day, but it was still jarring.

Dee charged out to go search for some kid, and left us with Aaron, who turned to Kent to continue what Pluto and I had interrupted.

"Kent...about what we talked about..." He looked nervously between me and Pluto. "After what just happened...I hate to say it, I think you're right."

"Wait, what did you talk about?" I demanded. "Kent?"

They produced Aaron's summons to Hearthome City and explained the situation. "If I want to make it in time and prepare a defense, I need to leave tonight," Aaron admitted. "My mother would beat the living hell out of me if she found out I were in legal trouble again. My only issues are with Kent's condition, and-"

"Natalie, is it?" Kent sighed, leaning back against the pillows on his bed. "Aaron's brought one of Professor Oak's many granddaughters with him. Tragic, really..." His gray eyes were almost misty when he asked, "Do you remember me telling you about Gary, Col?"

I nodded. "Yeah...that boy who they say died this summer. He had been studying under Rowan, right?"

"Aaron invited Gary's youngest sister, Natalie, out here under the pretense of searching for Gary, so that we could have a foothold in this case. Tragic that she had to get involved..."

That was the shadiest shit I had heard all day.

"Look, I don't mean to trick her," Aaron spluttered, when I glared at him. "I-It's not like that! But...the guy who was killed all those years ago, Lee Higgins, h-he was close to them! He was engaged to their sister...and now their brother...and both of them were in contact with Team Galactic. It's not a coincidence!"

"You aren't making any sense, you're just spewing excuses," I accused Aaron. "How do _you _know so much about that Lee?" He was still sounding shady. "You only met Gary in the past few years..."

"Leon Higgins was an international star, Col," Kent lectured me. "Ten or eleven years ago, he was crowned a Top Coordinator, and him and his pokemon were widely known in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. I watched a few of his performances myself online, he was quite a stage personality."

Aaron nodded enthuiastically, adding, "Yeah...the only region Lee never performed in was the region he died in. I got to meet him that year, he was hired as a guest judge during Sinnoh's contest season the year I turned 16."

I shook my head in disbelief. "So, that guy died in an avalanche, and so did Gary Oak, so there...there was a connection there? Where?"

"Lee had been ambushed by Team Galactic. He was trying to protect one of my friends' pokemon." Aaron paled, thinking of it. "Dee...the girl who was here, she had been with him that day. Gary had already been approached by Team Galactic's scientists, they were after Gary's research under Professor Rowan-"

"But why? Why did they want some snot-nosed kid who was studying rocks?" I demanded. "Why are you even involving yourself in this?"

"Because Gary was my _friend, _Col! Lee had been an international _idol! _They were both high-profile people who died too young, and I have to find out why! How can you not think something fishy is going on? How many more Garys and Lees do you think have to happen before-?!"

"Stop it."

Pluto's tiny voice put a stop to our arguing. His skin was nearly gray, he looked so sick to his stomach, and he was staring down at the sheets on the bed he sat on.

"All you three have done is fight," Pluto growled. "Dee was right, all you keep focusing on is arguing your own point. Just shut up, already!" He closed his eyes, grimacing. "You're giving me a _headache, _stop it!"

Pluro looked like he was in _pain, _worse than any migraine could do to him.

After a pause to think, Kent broke the silence. "...He's right. No more fighting. Aaron, we'll accompany you tonight."

"Kent-!"

"No. No negotiation on this, Col." Slate gray eyes were narrowed to slits. "Tonight, before we leave, we'll talk. Take my wallet again and go buy us supplies. Aaron, you do the same. Pluto...I'd like you to stay with me. I suppose I'll finally rest like the nurse wants, it'll be best for me."

Kent's duct tape wallet felt heavy in my pocket as I looked between him and Pluto. Aaron had nearly withdrawn away from the conversation, and Kent had his hands folded over his stomach as he thought quietly for another moment.

"Also...Col, call Ryan on my Xtransceiver," He added as an afterthought. "Tell him what's going on...did he call while you were at lunch?"

Slowly, I shook my head no. "No calls. Nothing."

"That's not right. Call him before you go shopping." Kent nodded in Aaron's direction. "Hey, I'm sorry today got off to such a rocky start..."

"No sweat." Aaron checked the time, and swore. "Hey-I gotta go find Dee, then Nattie. How about I meet the three of you tonight, 1 am, outside the Center?"

We all agreed on the time, in a kind of solemn quiet way, and then Aaron and I headed out to run our errands.


	36. Homelife

_Michelle._

_In the Pokemon Center Lobby._

"Max...Maaax...please pick up. It's me, Mitchie! Pick uuuup!"

While Nurse Joy healed up Astro and Nurse Wilkerson took a look at the Bronzor Jupiter had abandoned, I tried calling Max on the public phone. Neither him or Barry were answering any calls, and usually they would at least send a nasty text to Dee or Aaron if they called.

I sighed, pouting as I listened to the dial tone. Were their Pokegears dead? Both of them?

"Mitchie!"

I hung up the phone at Dee's voice, and hopped off the stool. She was heading towards me, carrying a wood basket with a cardboard box on top.

"Dee-Dee!" I headed towards her, meeting her in a happy hug. Finally, something good was happening today!

Dee laughed, hugging me back. "I knew you must've been in town," She beamed. "Have you met the boys yet?"

I nodded. "Uh-huh! Astro got in a fight, though, so I brought him to get patched up." Dee didn't need to hear about that Team Galactic nonsense. "Everyone else is at the gym, even Maggie."

"Oh? Who's Maggie?" Dee brushed my bangs out of my face. "Make a new friend?"

"Yup! That surfer girl from the Jubilife Contest, she's going with us!" Apparently she was gonna "teach me what real contests are made of", in her own words. "What's in the basket?"

"Oh...just some birthday stuff for Amber." Dee shrugged. "It's only a few weeks away. I bought her that tea the two of you like."

_"_Ooh, really? Maybe she'll make me some when I come home with some ribbons!"

"Aw, you know Amber would brew you some tea no matter what!"

We talked for a little while, until Nurse Joy brought a pouty looking Astro over to us.

"Michelle, he should be feeling better than ever," She promised, handing me Astro's pokeball. "Although, he still won't go in his pokeball..."

"That's fine, Nurse Joy! Thank you so much!" Astro's never liked his pokeball.

Astro may have felt better, but he looked awful. He was frowning harder than usual, eyebrows furrowed and his big, red eyes unfocused as he stared at the floor.

"...Don't talk to me." Astro crossed his arms over his chest, sighing. "I know what you're gonna say."

He was obviously talking to Dee. She laughed, a loud, mean laugh. "What, you pouting because you got your ass kicked in a fight? Tragic. Maybe you should stop getting in fights."

"Piss off, you self-righteous dyke!" Almost being beaten by Jupiter must have really hurt his pride. Everything hurts Astro's pride, it seems. "You should have been there yourself, you should see the other pokemon-!"

"I think it's time to go out for lunch," Dee continued, not listening to him. "I guess I can try and find you somewhere with milkshakes while you're licking your wounds, Azzy. Mitchie, what do you want to eat?"

Astro perked up a little, thinking of getting a milkshake, and Dee led me and him out the door by hand.

"Well...you know the town better than me, Dee, so you pick someplace I'll like!"

_Natalie._

_That Evening, at Oak's House _

"Grandpa Sam, I think you should know-"

"Shut up!" Carlisle nearly shoved his fork in Katie's throat.

She laughed, dodging. "Your grandson sucks, Grandpa! Both Houndour and Sableye wiped out, with one Turtwig!"

"S-Shut it!" Carlisle huffed, shoving food in his mouth. "It was a tough Turtwig..."

We all ate dinner at Grampa's vacation house that night, sitting around the living room coffee table; Katie, Carlisle, Dan, and Maggie sat on the floor around the coffee table, while Grampa sat in the big armchair and me, Drew, and Tracey were all bunched on the couch. Tracey had cooked up meatloaf and mashed potatoes(my favoritr meal!),and Carlisle was scarfing down plenty after his big loss at the gym.

It felt almost like any night back at home, or at the lab. Like I had never argued with Grampa.

"It doesn't matter what happened today, if I can try again tomorrow," Carlisle insisted. "Quit dogging me!"

Maggie, sitting on his other side, nearly coughed up meatloaf laughing. "She's just trying to get a reaction outta you, kid."

"Yeah, well, it's annoying." Carlisle was all flustered and red in embarrassment; even Dan was smiling, watching him. "Nattie, what'd you and Jumbo do today?"

"Watch it," Drew growled, glaring over his plate, "Jumbo just might sit on you."

I tapped his arm, shaking my head. "Be nice," I warned him in a whisper. Turning back to Carlisle, I answered, "We went walking around the city. Drew wants to battle the gym leader, right?"

Drew nodded. "Yeah...although maybe tomorrow, me and my pokemon'll go out to the forest," He muttered. "Train some. Don't want my head handed to me, too."

"Hey-! Will all of you quit dogging me?" Carlisle was really burned up from his gym battle.

Drew snickered at Carlisle, until Grampa finally said, "Okay, that's enough of all that, kids." He sounded a little annoyed, but he couldn't shake off the big smile on his face, watching all of us bicker.

Maggie looked at Grampa immediately when he spoke, and she hesitated a second before asking, "Hey, professor...how's Daisy these days?"

The chatter around the coffee table stopped. Maggie went back to picking at her food, with Grampa looking at her like she was crazy.

_Daisy? _Maggie hadn't met my family before...why would she ask about my _sister?_

"Mark's been really worried about her...her _and_ Nattie, really," Maggie continued. "You remember me, right, sir?"

"Do you _know _her, Professor?" Tracey asked. I didn't, or at least I didn't recognize her.

It took a moment, but you could see realization spark in Grampa's eyes. "Oh-_Maggie! _What a surprise, I didn't even recognize you!" When had Maggie ever met Grampa?! "Daisy's doing just fine, what's Mark up to these days?"

"Oh, uh, not much. He's still hanging in, so to speak..." Maggie paused to sigh, and muttered, "or, at least trying."

"Grampa, who's Mark?" I finally asked. "How do you know Maggie...?"

Maggie laughed, shrugging. "I haven't been around in years..." She was playing with the skull ring on her left hand, like it reminded her of something. "I didn't think you'd remember me, Nattie."

"Her brother Mark is one of Daisy's best friends," Grampa told me. "He used to bring her to the lab all the time when you were children, and you'd play together. Don't you remember?"

"No?" The only girl I knew with green eyes and orangey hair was Misty, from Cerulean City. "The only kids I remember ever playing with at the lab...that's the twins."

"Like I said, it's been _years," _Maggie insisted. "I was only, like, eight years old the last time Mark brought me...then I started up with contests. Did you know Mikey's in Sinnoh, too, Professor?"

"Michael Higgins?" Grampa was shocked, at whoever this was. "I didn't! How's he been?"

"Cheerful as ever. Staying at their grandparents' house, but he wasn't in Floaroma when I stopped by..."

Tracey got up to bring dirty plates to the kitchen, and both me and Drew passed him ours. I leaned against Drew's arm, listening to Grampa and Maggie talk about all these people I should have known.

"Nattie, don't you remember Mikey and Maggie? You three used to play together..."

I closed my eyes, nestling against Drew's arm, ready to take a nap. His muscles tensed up, but he didn't shake me off, so I made myself comfy.

I didn't remember all these "friends" Grampa said I had, and I wasn't about to.

_Col._

_At the Pokemon Center._

By seven that night, Kent had been all washed up and finally had all the blood washed off his arm and stomach, so he looked a little less like a tragedy victim.

He was sitting in bed in a clean t-shirt and sweatpants, typing away on his laptop like always, when I came back to check on him after buying medicine and food for the road. He had a headset with a mic plugged in, apparently working on something while on a video call.

"No..._non, essayez encore, s'il te plaît_..." I couldn't catch what he was muttering into his headset, but he was slipping into French, and he sounded irritated, his brows furrowed. A lot of people in Kalos speak French as well as English, but Kent wasn't a native of Kalos and he hardly needed French outside of Lumiose City, so something about his work must have been stressing him.

I cleared my throat. "Kent?" Pikachu, who'd tagged along with me, scampered over to his bed to check on him. "Do you _ever _take a break?"

Kent jolted when Pikachu jumped on the bed, gasping. "God. It's Col." He unplugged the headset from his laptop, and announced, "Watch what you say, Ryan, Col's right here."

"Col! My man, what's up?" I had never spoken to Ryan before in my life. "Did you stock up well?"

"As well as Kent told me to." I threw him his wallet. "Potions, antidotes, parlyz heals...even a few bottles of Full Heals." I had already deposited everything in the room me and Pluto rented upstairs. "Ryan, did you know my boss is an idiot?"

"We already discussed today, at length," Kent assured me, gritting his teeth.

"We hire you to keep Kent out of trouble, and he actively tries to get himself hurt." There was something...wistful, I guess, in Ryan's voice? "What an idiot."

"Quit talking about me like I'm not in the room." There was that unhinged emotion again, like he would snap at a moment's notice. "Ryan...look into that picture, would you? As well as those lists. I want you to double check _everything _this time."

"On it," Ryan promised. "God, you work me harder than the professor. How come you don't pay me?"

"That's because you're _willing_ to work for me. _Au revior?_"

"G'night, Kent. Go to sleep." There was a swooshing sound effect as the chat was exited, and Kent slowly closed his laptop, but I could still see the gears turning at full-speed in his mind.

After waiting a moment to give him time to gather his thoughts, I grunted, "You wanna tell me what it is we're doing tonight?"

"We're meeting with Aaron-and possibly Miss Oak-after midnight, and hightailing it to the southeast, to Hearthome City. He's in...a little legal trouble." Kent pushed his laptop on the bed, and folded his hands over his stomach. "My IV drip was finished almost an hour ago. There should be no worries."

Kent was anemic and dehydrated, according to both Mrs. Wilkerson and Nurse Joy. He had an awful habit of skipping meals, especially when he was working away at _whatever _is kept on that laptop. That was a big part of what'd made him so weak, was just plain not taking care of himself.

I fished a bottle of supplements I'd grabbed at the store out of my pocket, and tossed it to him. "You've got a bunch of vitamins to take. Start on it."

"Excuse me?" Kent glared at me like I'd thrown him a live grenade. "Is this a joke?"

"I dunno, is it a joke that your blood's more like red colored water?" No smart-ass comeback from the king. "Just do it."

Kent finally shut up and did what he was asked to. He quietly unscrewed the bottle and popped one of the big pills dry, not even hesitating to swallow.

"What'd you do with Pluto?" I asked, looking around. Aside from a mass of cut teal-dyed hair in the garbage can, there was no sign of him.

Kent swallowed again, to get the vitamin down, and croaked, "In the room you rented. I cut what hair Aaron didn't get to, and sent him off to bed to get rest." A shudder interrupted his report. "Christ, man, this is bitter as hell."

"Well, it's perfect for you. Were you talking to Ryan about Pluto?"

"You know it." Kent handed me the bottle of vitamins, and I pocketed it again. "I had the picture we took of Pluto last night, Ryan's going to play with some image-editing software and see if we can get an idea of what he used to look like."

"And...the lists?" Kent had mentioned lists, right before rushing out of his video chat.

Kent grew even paler than he was, when I mentioned the lists. "Oh...you heard that?" He sounded like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "The lists..."

"Something personal?" There had been a mistake with "the lists", and Kent had fussed at Ryan.

"Oh, no, nothing as dreadful as that." Kent's lips were drawn tight. "Both me and Ryan spent hours last night, looking for and pouring over missing persons reports for the Sinnoh region, but we're having a little trouble consolidating what we've found."

"Oh." Are missing persons reports even public information? "...Why?"

"There's a girl here in the Sinnoh region, she was reported missing years ago and declared dead," Kent explained, "but Ryan claims he's found some evidence she's still traipsing around the northern path of the region. Would you like to see?" Kent was already opening his laptop again, pulling up documents.

"Um...sure." I wasn't so interested that I'd want to see a bunch of reports, but Kent was already pulling everything up.

Kent handed me his laptop, open to a document with dozens of missing persons reports and profiles he'd gathered, complete with pictures from before each person was missing.

"Only the one highlighted matters," He instructed. "This is most of every person reported in the past ten years. There's only about twenty or thirty, which can be considered good."

I nodded, and looked through the profile.

**Name: Tesserae Marie Thompson**

**Age Missing: 16**

**Hair Color: Dark brown**

**Eye Color: Dark brown**

**Height: 5'04**

**Weight: 120 lbs**

**Pokemon Reported On Hand: Sneasel(male), Smoochum, Snorunt(female)**

**Last Place Seen: Route 116**

"It's the weirdest thing, she seems so normal, just a routine report, so why would there be any issue? Honestly..."

I ignored Kent as he rattled off, looking at the picture attached to her. It was her in the middle of a battle, wearing a red sweater and faded skinny jeans. She had long brown hair and brown eyes, like reported, and her height and weight seemed right, but...

Something _wasn't_ right. She had familiar pale white skin, with high cheek bones and a dainty pointed nose, but was scowling in battle, looking angry, like she was losing. She looked just like...

"Dee Thompson." I shut the laptop, and handed it to Kent. He raised an eyebrow in concern, and I added, "Aaron's friend. That helped us in battle, with her ice pokemon. This is her."

"No way." Kent looked at the picture on his laptop again, in disbelief. "You think so?"

"Don't you?" I pointed at the picture. "It's been about five years, but it's definitely her. You and I both saw this girl in battle."

Kent nodded, thinking it over. "Huh...I guess you can see a similarity. I suppose we should find that Dee." He closed his laptop, handing both it and his headset to me. "That's all of that I'll be doing tonight." His arms shook from holding up the laptop.

He had some color back to him, but still winced hard if he leaned too far on his side. Kent had practically been falling apart when we had battled Team Galactic, having to hold onto me just for support.

"Are you sure you'll be able to leave tonight?" I highly doubted it. "The nurses won't be happy, and you've been acting so _weird _today."

"Today's been a weird day." Kent heaved a heavy sigh. "I'll be fine. Between the Beedrill attack and that Blizzard attack-"

"What _was _that? You completely shut down once things got a little chilly."

That faraway look was in his eye again; it was something painful, and I shouldn't have asked.

"I guess...you should know I'm afraid of the cold." Afraid? "I have been, since I was a kid. Frigaphobia...anyway, Aaron's going to give me a new coat to wear, since my jacket got trashed. But, please try to watch out, if I get like...that, again."

Kent kept his eyes in his lap as he spoke, almost like he was uncomfortable asking for my help. I had run errands for him and all, but it seemed almost out of character for him to ask for help like that.

I nodded. "Yeah. I will." I checked the clock on the wall; it was a little after eight. "What time should I be up?"

"We're leaving at one in the morning. Pack everything up, and set your alarm for when you think you and Pluto need to be awake. I talked with the kid, and he decided he would feel safer with me for now."

_Hopefully he'll actually get some sleep. _If Pluto woke me up with another nightmare, I was going to make him sleep in the bathtub.

"G'night, see you in a few hours." With Kent's laptop and his headset, I shut the light off and shut the door behind me as I headed out.

It was going to be a long night.


	37. A Friend

**AOF: Something a little closer to romantic, for the holiday. Hoping to post tomorrow as well, for Drew and Dan's birthday(February 15th).**

* * *

_Drew._

_Midnight._

I was awake, in the living room, when Nat tried to sneak out.

It was a little past midnight. Nat and Katie stayed in one room of the house, Tracey and the Professor slept in the master bedroom, and I was supposed to stay in the other guest room with Carlisle. Carlisle decided to spend the night at the Pokemon Center with Dan, Maggie, and Michelle, and I've never been keen on sleeping alone in a room, so I was on the couch watching gym battle videos on my laptop when I heard footsteps.

She tiptoed into the living room, fully dressed with her backpack on and her Pokegear in hand, and I shut my laptop fast. "..Hello?"

"Oh! Crap." She'd never been good at sneaking around. "Drew? That you?"

"Nat..." I stood up and turned the lamp on, and was immediately confused. "Where...are you _going?"_

"Nowhere." An awful liar, too, but why would she lie to me? "Why are you up?"

I glanced at Pixel, curled up asleep where I had sat, on top of my laptop. "I couldn't sleep. Why are you leaving?"

Nat looked so small, standing there with her heavy backpack, like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Lenny was even tucked away in his pokeball. She knew she couldn't get away from me so easily.

"Aaron...called me, after dinner," She murmured. "He has to leave for Hearthome City...in a half hour."

"No." It was an automatic response. She couldn't _possibly..._"Don't you...you're going with him?"

"We're gonna find Gary." It was a pathetic little whine, covering up a pathetic empty promise. "Aaron promised...he's the whole reason I came to Sinnoh! Why wouldn't I follow him?"

"Nat, you can't possibly..." I turned the lamp off, in case it'd wake anybody down the hall, and sighed, knowing I couldn't dissuade her. "Just...go back to bed, okay?"

I couldn't tell her, while she was still hurting, that Gary was dead and she was stupid for thinking otherwise. I couldn't reason with Nat, and I never have been able to; logic and emotion don't mix well.

But...watching her walk out that door would have been infinitely harder. Nat had hardly had to do anything alone before; I was by her side as much as possible, and when I had to live with my dad, she had Dan and I was only one call away. Even before me, she had Maggie, but I like to think I matter more than that girl ever had. With everything she had to think about, this was a hell of a time to start an independant, rebellious streak.

"Please, Nat, it'll be a mistake," I begged, both of us whispering "You just...the Professor...you just patched things up, why can't you just stay the night.. ?"

I floundered another moment, trying to find the words, until Nat smiled. "Just say it. _You _don't want me to go." Damn it all. She reached for my hand, and I took it, her dainty little fingers wrapped around mine. "Come with me! We always wanted to travel together, come on!"

It was tempting, and I hated myself for considering the notion. Running away with Nat in the middle of the night, on a dumb, crazy adventure...it sounded perfect. I tightened my fingers around her hand, sighing.

"But...Dan. And the others." I couldn't leave without telling Dan, he would feel so felt out if I left him high and dry with a bunch of kids we hardly know. "Just...go back to bed. You can help me train in the forest tomorrow?" Lenny and Pixel were picture perfect sparring partners. We'd all have a great time together, just like we always did before...

"No!" Nat snatched her hand away, hissing at me. It'd been good while it lasted. "Drew-I've _got _to go with Aaron! Who else is gonna go looking for Gary? And find out why those creeps were after him?"

Still no reasoning with Nat. I sighed, muttering, "There's no way I can stop you?"

She softened, seeing the crushed look on my face. "Aw...Drew." She pulled me in for a hug, her arms tight around my chest. "You can call me in the morning, you know? I always answered, back home, and I'll always answer for you and Dan."

"What if..." I draped my arms loose across her shoulders, sighing, "if...something happens, to you?" Nat was small, and delicate, and that Aaron guy and his Leafeon could run right over her if he wanted to. I didn't trust him and I didn't want her to run off with him. It was a crazy, jealous, irrational feeling, but I wouldn't shake it off.

"I have Lenny, and Kibia," She murmured into my shirt. "I know I freeze up when things get hard, but...Lenny doesn't. I'm a trainer, too, you know?"

"You're my best friend," I muttered, knowing it was a hopeless argument. She'd never see eye to eye with me on this, so it was a waste of energy to keep her from going off.

"Quit bein' dumb, you're acting like we'll never see each other again." She always made things sound so much simpler. "What, are you scared I'll find a new boy to bug?"

"Heh...you don't bug me."

I felt Nat grip my shirt, and she tugged me toward the door. "Would you at least walk me to the Pokemon Center? Aaron and his friends are waiting for me there."

Shaking my head, I stepped back towards the couch. "No...I'm sorry. I can't trust that I'll be nice when I see that jerk." I'd have liked to punch him right in the nose, make sure to break those smug-looking glasses, but Nat would have a cow if I did that.

"Oh, dammit! You never like anybody, do you?" Through the moonlight from the window, it was easy to see Nat pouting, her bottom lip poking out like a child. "What're you gonna do if I meet someone I like while I'm gone?"

"What else? I'll bitch and moan about being replaced."

"Drewww!" She punched me in the arm, barely even making me budge, and I had to laugh at her effort. "Quit joking!"

"Ha, I'm not." I settled back onto the couch, sighing, sliding Pixel off my laptop and picking it up. "I guess...I wasted enough time. You should get going..."

Surprised, Nat nodded. "Oh...yeah! Aaron!" She went to the door, and turned back one last time, adding, "Don't forget to call me!"

"I never have." I opened my laptop, and began to untangle my earbuds where my Vulpix had tangled them around herself. "Be safe, Nat."

"Get some sleep, Drew. I'll see you soon!" Nat opened the door and slipped out as quietly as she could, easing it closed behind her with a soft click.

Left only with my laptop's blazingly bright screen and my Vulpix dozing against my knee, I didn't feel so much like watching Eterna City gym battles online, anymore. I hardly felt like even battling Gardenia in the morning, without Nat there...

I plugged my earbuds in, one hand stroking the fluffy orange fur on Pixel's head as I restarted what I'd been watching.

"See you soon, Nat..."

_Pluto._

"Aaron, I know Professor Oak's granddaughter is young...but this is a toddler you've got here!"

Kent wasted no time in roasting Aaron's companion, as he walked with her to the Pokemon Center.

Aaron had left to go find her and see what the hold-up was, and he brought back with him the smallest girl you'd ever seen. Kent flashed his flashlight on them, leaning against the Pokemon Center door, and we could see Aaron walking with a tanned girl, with big green eyes, and long hair tied back in a high ponytail. She was trotting along in baggy tan shorts and a baggy green t-shirt, but stopped short when Kent flashed a light.

"Kent-!" Aaron stopped, too, shielding his eyes. "Dammit, little warning next time?"

"Ahaha...gotta keep a look out in the dark, for boogeymen." Kent switched the flashlight off, and stuffed it in the pocket of the lime green pullover Aaron had lent it.

It was late at night, past midnight, and dark as hell outside. I could hardly even see, besides by the light of whatever gadgets that Kent decided to turn on to light up the street.

He turned on the video phone strapped to his arm(Xtransciever, I think?), and shined it in Aaron's direction. "Better?"

"As better as it's gonna get," Col muttered.

Kent was looking considerably better, after the day we'd had. He wasn't so pale or irritable, and him and Col seemed to be on better terms. I couldn't wrap my mind around why he kept Col around if all they seemed to do was fight with each other.

"Is this Miss Oak?" Kent searched with his Xtransciever light, until it shone on Natalie's face.

She nodded. "Yes, sir. My name's Natalie Oak. Sorry for the wait!"

This girl looked _so familiar _to me. Something was tugging at me, nagging just at the edge of my consciousness, like I should have remembered her, if nothing else.

"Aaron...who are these guys...?" Natalie was a little nervous asking Aaron, and for good reason.

"We're friends," Kent assured her.

"'Friend' is a strong word," Col interjected. "He pays me to stay around."

"Aaron's friends." Kent yawned, then visibly winced and held his arm to his side as he slowly exhaled. "Ow...be easy on me, I'm a little banged up." His ribs must have been what bothered him, the force of Beedrill smashing into him had been pretty excessive.

"'Be easy on me'?" Col crossed his arms, leaning against the building. "Don't pull that crap, after I spent all day trying to get you to take it easy, little man. Are you dumb?"

Kent turned his light on Col, scowling. "Watch yourself. A dumb man can't write checks, so don't be an ass." Maybe it'd been too soon to say they were on better terms.

"''Don't be an ass'?" Col was smirking as he teased his boss, a smug grin because he knew that he was in the right. "If I'm going to start losing more sleep, I might as well get my jabs in now."

Kent had a snappy comeback, you could see he did, but he bit it back, rolling his eyes and turning back to Natalie with a mutter of, "Ass."

"Do...they do this all the time?" I wasn't sure who she was asking. Natalie was grinning, too, giggling through the whole exchange.

I nodded. "Honestly? They bicker like children. They picked me up sometime yesterday, and it's nonstop." Kent and Col were back af bickering when I reached for a handshake, adding, "I'm, um, Pluto. The ass is Col Leech, and the, uh, little man is Kenta Landry."

Quickly, Natalie accepted the handshake. "Oh...thank you, Pluto!" She was still nervous, meeting us, but not as much after I introduced us all.

Something seemed _so _familiar about this girl, I felt like I already knew her so well. Natalie, or whatever memory she dredged up, seemed like the sweetest girl I'd ever met, friendly and kind, long brown hair and soft green eyes and-

_No, stop, you hardly know this girl and you can barely even see her, _I reminded myself bitterly. _Don't be an idiot. _Kent told me that things would start to come back to me on their own, because that's basically what happens with amnesia.

"Guys, if we leave now then Cycling Road will probably still be open," Aaron told us, apparently knowing where to go. "It's down south of the city, a short bike ride down the mountain's side."

"Why're we going down the mountain, if we need to cross it?" I asked. Col had showed me on a map the way, but it seemed weird not to cross the mountain first.

Kent flashed his flashlight again, giving it to Aaron to light the way. "Two reasons, Pluto," He started to answer me, as we started to follow Aaron. "It's easier to ride a bike down, and I'm not about to cross a mountain range in the dead of night."


End file.
